Biographies of New Blesseds

Biographies of New Blesseds

The following were beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1994:

Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga
Elizabeth Canonori Mora
Gianna Beretta Molla
Isidore Bakanja
Josephine Vannini

Maddalena Caterina Morano
Maria Rafols
Nicolas Roland
Petra of St. Joseph Perez Florido

5 November 1994

BL. MADDALENA CATERINA MORANO was born in 1847 into a large family in Chieri, near Turin, Italy. When she was eight years old, her father and older sister died, and so young Maddalena had to work. However, she applied herself to study as well, and in 1866 she received her diploma as an elementary school teacher.

Her studies increased her knowledge of Christian doctrine and her longing to be a saint. She wished to enter religious life, but the needs of her family required her to wait. For 12 years she worked as a rural school teacher in Montaldo and taught catechism in the local parish.

In 1878, having set aside enough savings for her mother's future needs, Maddalena entered the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, a congregation founded six years earlier by Don Bosco. She was a model religious, and after a brief but intense novitiate she took her first vows. In 1881, with Don Bosco's blessing, she was sent to Trecastagni (Diocese of Catania), Sicily, and put in charge of an existing institute for women, to which she gave a new orientation inspired by the principles of the Salesian method.

Sicily became her second home, where she carried out a varied and fruitful apostolate. She opened new houses, set up after-school activities and sewing classes, trained teachers, etc. Her real love, though, was for catechism class, since she was convinced that the formation of Christian conscience was the basis of personal maturity and all social improvement. She coordinated catechetical instruction in 18 of Catania's churches and trained lay and religious catechists to bring the Christian message to needy boys and girls.

She spent 25 years in Sicily and served her community as local and provincial superior. She was an attentive mother and caring guide for many local vocations, faithfully living the charism of Mother Maria Mazzarello, co-foundress of the institute. She died in Catania at the age of 61 on 26 March 1908.

16 October 1994

BL. MARIA RAFOLS
was born on 5 November 1781 in Vilafranca del Penedes Spain, to a simple hard-working family. Because of her talent, she was sent to a boarding school in Barcelona, where she completed her formation while maintaining a life of solitude, prayer and piety.

She then joined a group of 12 young women under the direction of Fr Juan Bonal, who administered Our Lady of Grace Hospital in Zaragoza. The small community formed an apostolic association dedicated to serving the most helpless: the sick, the mentally ill, abandoned children and all types of disabled people.

At the age of 23 she was appointed superior of the group, a task requiring heroic effort, since she often had to confront a hostile atmosphere created by some of the hospital employees. During the Napoleonic wars she laboured in the bombed ruins, endangering her life to save the sick and the children. She even ventured into the enemy camp to plead with the French general for help with the sick and wounded.

She struggled tirelessly for the approval of her small community. Finally in 1825 they took their first public vows. The victim of calumny, she was imprisoned during the Carlist War, but later released; she spent her remaining years at her Foundling Home. She died on 30 August 1853 at the age of 72.

BL. ALBERTO HURTADO CRUCHAGA
was born in Vina del Mar, Chile, on 22 January 1901. His father died when he was four and the family was impoverished.

He received a scholarship to the Jesuit College in Santiago, where he developed a lively interest in the poor, spending time with them in the most miserable neighbourhoods every Sunday afternoon.

In 1923 he entered the Jesuit novitiate and was ordained a priest in 1933. He taught religion at Colegio San Ignacio and pedagogy at the Catholic University of Santiago. He frequently gave retreats to young men, guiding several to the priesthood and contributing to the formation of many others as outstanding Christian laymen.

In 1941 he published his famous book, Is Chile a Catholic Country?, and was asked that same year to serve as chaplain to the youth movement of Catholic Action, first within the Archdiocese of Santiago and then at the national level. He carried out these tasks with exceptional dedication and sacrifice.

In 1944, while giving a retreat, he felt impelled to ask his audience to consider the many poor people of the city, especially the numerous homeless children who roamed the streets of Santiago. This request received a generous response and was the beginning of the initiative for which Fr Hurtado is especially well-known: the "El Hagar de Cristo", a charitable work that provides not only housing but a home-like atmosphere for the homeless.

With the help of benefactors and committed lay people, he opened a house for children and then similar ones for women and men. The homes multiplied: some were rehabilitation centres, others trade schools, etc.

In 1945 Fr Hurtado visited the USA to study the "Boys Town" movement and to consider how it could be adapted to his own country. The last six years of his life were devoted to developing various forms of "El Hagar".

In 1947 Fr Hurtado founded the Chilean Trade Union Association (ASICH) to promote a union movement based on the Church's social teaching. Between 1947 and 1950 he wrote three important works on trade unions, social humanism and the Christian social order. In 1951 he founded the journal Mensaje, dedicated to explaining the Church's teaching.

Pancreatic cancer brought him, within a few months, to the end of his life. In the midst of terrible pain, he was often heard to say: "I am happy, Lord".

After having spent his life manifesting Christ's love for the poor, Fr Hurtado was called to the Lord on 18 August 1952. He accomplished all the works described above in the 15 years between his tertianship and his death at the age of 51.

BL. NICOLAS ROLAND
was born in Reims, France, in 1642. At a tender age his parents instilled in him a love for God and the poor, and entrusted him to the Jesuits for his education.

He excelled in his studies and his family connections assured him a successful business career, but at the age of 18 he decided to study for the priesthood. He was given a well-endowed canonry before being ordained a deacon and was highly regarded as a preacher, but realized that his elegant style reached few of the faithful. He decided to establish free schools for the Christian education of girls.

After receiving priestly ordination, he went to Rouen where he received spiritual direction from the curate of Saint-Amand and lived in complete poverty. He also met Fr Nicolas Barre, an exemplary Minim, who had collected a group of men and women who worked in free schools located in several neighbourhoods of the city. He returned to Reims with the intention of starting similar projects there.

A poorly maintained orphanage was entrusted to him and he gradually transformed it into a real school. Young girls, frequently of unknown parentage, were welcomed into a warm atmosphere and educated. Fr Barre sent him two teachers from charitable schools in Rouen, who were accustomed to living in community and wanted to consecrate themselves totally to God. Thus began an intense religious life connected with apostolic activity. The Sisters of the Infant Jesus were founded in Reims. Their name suggests that the spirit of childhood is the quickest and simplest way to find God and to open one's heart to others.

Some mean-spirited critics rebuked the sisters, maintaining that teaching Christian doctrine was reserved to priests. But Archbishop Le Tellier of Reims was convinced by the founder's arguments and so their work was extended to four sectors of the city.

Fr Roland next thought of boys, but for this task he turned to his disciple, John Baptist de la Salle. The seed would later sprout, but first the sower had to die. In fact, the future founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools did not feel particularly attracted by this kind of apostolate and it took providential events to convince him of its necessity.

On his deathbed, Fr Roland asked his friend to see that the Sisters of the Infant Jesus were officially approved and entrusted the community to him. He died of fatigue and overwork on 27 April 1678 at the age of 35.

On 9 May 1678, Fr de la Salle and Archbishop Le Tellier received the king's approval for the community and the sisters took their first vows in 1684.

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BL. PETRA of ST JOSEPH PEREZ FLORIDO
was born on 7 December 1845 to a Christian family in Malaga, Spain. From her early years she felt called by God to prayer and to belonging totally to him. I thought about nothing else but becoming a nun, she would later say, "and I was consumed by this longing". She practised charity towards the poor. "When they asked for something and were given nothing, I felt as grieved as they were".

While still in secular life she started begging on behalf of the destitute, after having overcome her father's strong opposition thanks to the intercession of St Joseph. Soon three young girls joined her, attracted by her simple and joyful way of living out charity.

With the approval of the Bishop of Malaga, she founded the Congregation of the Mothers of the Helpless and of St Joseph of the Mountain in 1880. In fact, it was the Bishop who named them "Mothers of the Helpless" because of the way they treated the poor. Amid many trials, the congregation grew and new homes were opened.

In 1895 she started working on the Royal Sanctuary of St Joseph of the Mountain in Barcelona, known as the "Montana Pelada". The Church was dedicated in 1901.

She lived her faith deeply and her delicate charity led her to be available to serve those in need, like a caring mother. She died, serene and full of love, on 16 August 1906 in Barcelona.

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BL. JOSEPHINE VANNINI
was born in Rome, Italy, on 7 July 1859 and lost her parents as a small child. She was raised in the Torlonia Conservatory on Via Sant'Onofrio, under the guidance of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul. She entered the Daughters' novitiate in Siena, but was forced to leave because of poor health. While on retreat in 1891 she met Fr Luigi Tezza, procurator general of the Camillians. For some time he had been thinking of founding a women's community, which would be consecrated to God for the care of the sick. Moved by divine grace, he invited her to join him in establishing the new community. She thought about it, prayed and sought advice; then in characteristic fashion she gave him a decisive "yes".

In 1892, the Servant of God and two companions received the scapular of Camillian tertiaries. One year later they professed private vows, adding a fourth vow of service to the sick, even at the risk of their own lives. They made their perpetual profession as Daughters of St Camillus in 1895 and Josephine was elected Superior General.

In 1900 Fr Tezza was sent to Lima, and so responsibility for the new congregation rested in the hands of Mother Vannini. The congregation continued to grow and spread to France, Belgium and Argentina. On the night of 23 February 1911, Josephine Vannini went serenely to meet the Lord she had served in the poor and sick.

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24 April 1994

BL. ISIDORE BAKANJA
, one of "the least brothers" of Jesus, was born in northeast Zaire (then, Belgian Congo) sometime between 1885 and 1890. His baptismal record is the first document about him, as he was attracted to Christ when he was about 18 years of age, working for white colonizers as an assistant mason. He never forgot the lessons taught him by the Trappist missionaries from Westmalle Abbey in Belgium: a follower of Jesus should be characterized by prayer and witness. He should be recognized by the rosary and scapular (Mary's habit, as it was rendered in Isidore's native tongue).

Mild, honest, respectful by nature, Isidore worked conscientiously and prayed faithfully, as many non-Christian witnesses attested. Often with rosary in hand, he looked for opportunities to share his new-found faith with others, to the extent that many thought of him as a catechist. He definitively left his native village because there were no fellow followers of Christ there. In a larger settlement, he found employment with the agent of a Belgian company that controlled the rubber plantations in the region. He was hired as a domestic boy. Many of the agents were avowed atheists, who hated the missionaries because of the latter's defence of the natives' rights and their denouncing of injustices perpetrated against them. "Mon pere" was a pejorative name given to priests and to all that had to do with religion.

Isidore soon experienced the hatred of the agents for Catholicism. He asked for leave to return home; permission was refused. He was told to stop teaching his fellow workers how to pray: "You'll have the whole village praying and no one will want to work", one agent shouted at him.

Isidore was told to discard his scapular. When he did not, he was twice flogged. The second time, the agent flew into one of his rages. He jumped at Isidore, tore the scapular from around his neck and threw him to the ground. He had two servant boys hold Isidore by his hands and feet and a third domestic flogged him. The whip was made of elephant hide with nails protruding at the end. The writhing Isidore asked for mercy. "My God, I'm dying", he muttered. But the colonizer kept kicking Isidore in the neck and head, and ordered his domestic to scourge him harder still. After 100, those assisting lost count of the number of blows. Isidore's back was one open wound; some of his bones were exposed. After scourging he was thrown, legs chained, into a hut for processing rubber. He could not even move to relieve himself.

Since an inspector was due, Isidore was banished to another village. But because he could not walk, he fell by the wayside and hid in the forest. He dragged himself before the inspector, who was horrified at the sight of this modern Job. The inspector himself left a written account of his impression: "I saw a man come from the forest with his back torn apart by deep, festering, malodorous wounds, covered with filth, assaulted by flies. He leaned on two sticks in order to get near me -he wasn't walking; he was dragging himself". The agent appeared on the scene and tried to kill "that animal of mon pere", but the inspector even physically prevented him. He took Isidore to his own settlement, hoping to help him heal. But Isidore felt death in his bones. He told someone who had pity on him: "if you see my mother, or if you go to the judge, or if you meet the priest, tell them that I am dying because I am a Christian".

Two missionaries spent several days with him. He devoutly received the last sacraments. He told them the reason for his beating: "The white man did not like Christians.... He did not want me to wear the scapular.... He yelled at me when I said my prayers". The missionaries urged Isidore to forgive the agent; he assured them that he had already done so and that he nursed no hatred for him. This "animal of mon pere", this convert of two-and-a-half years proved that he knew what it meant to follow Jesus - even to the point of being flogged like him, even to the point of carrying the cross, even to the point of dying. The missionaries urged Isidore to pray for the agent. "Certainly I shall pray for him. When I am in heaven, I shall pray for him very much".

His agony - more painful than the actual flogging - lasted six months. He died on either 8 or 15 august 1909, rosary in hand and the scapular of Our Lady of Mt Carmel around his neck.

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BL. ELIZABETH CANORI MORA
.
was born in Rome on 21 November 1774 to Tommaso and Teresa Primoli. Her family was well-off, profoundly Christian and diligent in the education of their children.

Elizabeth studied with the Augustinian Sisters of Cascia (1785-88), where she was noted for her intelligence, profound interior life and spirit of penance. Returning to Rome, she led a remarkable life for some years and in 1796 married Cristoforo Mora, a young lawyer.

Matrimony for her was a thoughtful, mature decision, but after some months, the psychological fragility of Cristoforo compromised the serenity of the family. Attracted by a woman of simple status, he deceived his wife and estranged himself from the family, reducing it to destitution.

To the physical and psychological violence of her husband, Elizabeth responded with absolute fidelity. There are no excuses, conveniences or interests that can justify any detraction whatsoever to the code of fidelity which is of love and of total surrender.

In 1801 a mysterious illness brought her to death's door. She was cured in an inexplicable way and had her first mystical experience.

She was the mother of four children, of whom the first two died a few days after birth. Forced to make a living working with her hands, she continued to care for her daughters, Marianna and Luciana, and the daily chores of the home with utmost care. She also dedicated much time to prayer, the poor and the sick.

Her home soon became a reference point for many people who turned to her for material and spiritual help. She devoted special care to families in need. For her, family meant a place for each person, a place of fruitfulness and life, of faith, solidarity and responsibility. It was the temple in which she welcomed the "beloved Lord, Jesus of Nazareth" and all those who turned to her. Through self-denial, Elizabeth offered her life for the peace and holiness of the Church, her husband's conversion and the salvation of sinners.

In 1807 Elizabeth joined the Trinitarian Third Order. She came to know and understand profoundly the spirituality of the Trinitarians, responding with dedication to the vocation of the family and secular consecration. Her admirable human and Christian virtues and the fame of her holiness spread through Rome, Albano and Marino, where she was popularly known as "the saint".

On 5 February 1825, while being cared for by her two daughters, Elizabeth died, entering gently into the light of the Holy Trinity. She is buried in Rome in the Trinitarian church of San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane. Shortly after her death, as she had predicted, her husband converted, joined the Trinitarian Third Order and later became a priest of the Conventual Franciscans. He died on 9 September 1845 and is buried in the Conventual Franciscans' church in Sezze.

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BL. GIANNA BERETTA MOLLA
.
was born in Magenta (Milan), Italy, on 4 October 1922, the 10th of 13 children. Already as a young girl she willingly accepted the gift of faith and the clearly Christian education that she received from her excellent parents. As a result, she experienced life as a marvellous gift from God, had a strong faith in Providence and was convinced of the necessity and effectiveness of prayer.

She diligently dedicated herself to studies during the years of her secondary and university education, while, at the same time, applying her faith in generous apostolic service among the elderly and needy as a member of the St Vincent de Paul Society. After earning degrees in medicine and surgery, from the University of Pavia in 1949, she opened a medical clinic in Mesero (near Magenta) in 1950. She specialized in pediatrics at the University of Milan in 1952 and thereafter gave special attention to mothers, babies, the elderly and the poor.

While working in the field of medicine - which she considered a "mission" and practised as such - she increased her generous service to Catholic Action, especially among the "very young" and, at the same time, expressed her joie de vivre and love of creation through skiing and mountaineering. Through her prayers and those of others, she reflected on her vocation, which she also considered a gift from God. Having chosen the vocation of marriage, she embraced it with complete enthusiasm and wholly dedicated herself "to forming a truly Christian family".

She became engaged to Pietro Molla and was radiant with joy and happiness during the time of their engagement, for which she thanked and praised the Lord. They were married on 24 September 1955 in St Martin's Basilica in Magenta, and she became a happy wife. In November 1956, to her great joy, she became the mother of Pierluigi; in December 1957 of Mariolina; in July 1959 of Laura. With simplicity and equilibrium she harmonized the demands of mother, wife, doctor and her passion for life.

In September 1961, towards the end of the second month of pregnancy, she was touched by suffering and the mystery of pain; she had developed a fibroma in her uterus. Before the required surgical operation, and conscious of the risk that her continued pregnancy brought, she pleaded with the surgeon to save the life of the child she was carrying, and entrusted herself to prayer and Providence. The life was saved, for which she thanked the Lord. She spent the seven months remaining until the birth of the child in incomparable strength of spirit and unrelenting dedication to her tasks as mother and doctor. She worried that the baby in her womb might be born in pain, and she asked God to prevent that.

A few days before the child was due, although trusting as always in Providence, she was ready to give her life in order to save that of her child: "if you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child - I insist on it. Save the baby". On the morning of 21 April 1962 Gianna Emanuela was born. Despite all efforts and treatments to save both of them, on the morning of 28 April, amid unspeakable pain and after repeated exclamations of "Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you", the mother died. She was 39 years old. Her funeral was an occasion of profound grief, faith and prayer. The body of the body of the newly blessed lies in the cemetery of Mesero (4 km. from Magenta).

Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
Various dates and pages in 1994

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The Secrets of Fatima

The Secrets of Fatima

CONGREGATION
FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
  

THE MESSAGE
OF FATIMA      

INTRODUCTION  

As the second millennium gives way to the third, Pope John Paul II has decided to publish the text of the third part of the “secret of Fatima”. 

The twentieth century was one of the most crucial in human history, with its tragic and cruel events culminating in the assassination attempt on the “sweet Christ on earth”. Now a veil is drawn back on a series of events which make history and interpret it in depth, in a spiritual perspective alien to present-day attitudes, often tainted with rationalism. 

Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and signs which go to the heart of human events and which, to the surprise of believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of history. These manifestations can never contradict the content of faith, and must therefore have their focus in the core of Christ's proclamation: the Father's love which leads men and women to conversion and bestows the grace required to abandon oneself to him with filial devotion. This too is the message of Fatima which, with its urgent call to conversion and penance, draws us to the heart of the Gospel. 

Fatima is undoubtedly the most prophetic of modern apparitions. The first and second parts of the “secret”—which are here published in sequence so as to complete the documentation—refer especially to the frightening vision of hell, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Second World War, and finally the prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and embracing Communist totalitarianism. 

In 1917 no one could have imagined all this: the three pastorinhos of Fatima see, listen and remember, and Lucia, the surviving witness, commits it all to paper when ordered to do so by the Bishop of Leiria and with Our Lady's permission. 

For the account of the first two parts of the “secret”, which have already been published and are therefore known, we have chosen the text written by Sister Lucia in the Third Memoir of 31 August 1941; some annotations were added in the Fourth Memoir of 8 December 1941. 

The third part of the “secret” was written “by order of His Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and the Most Holy Mother ...” on 3 January 1944. 

There is only one manuscript, which is here reproduced photostatically. The sealed envelope was initially in the custody of the Bishop of Leiria. To ensure better protection for the “secret” the envelope was placed in the Secret Archives of the Holy Office on 4 April 1957. The Bishop of Leiria informed Sister Lucia of this. 

According to the records of the Archives, the Commissary of the Holy Office, Father Pierre Paul Philippe, OP, with the agreement of Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, brought the envelopecontaining the third part of the “secret of Fatima” to Pope John XXIII on 17 August 1959. “After some hesitation”, His Holiness said: “We shall wait. I shall pray. I shall let you know what I decide”.⁽¹⁾

In fact Pope John XXIII decided to return the sealed envelope to the Holy Office and not to reveal the third part of the “secret”. 

Paul VI read the contents with the Substitute, Archbishop Angelo Dell'Acqua, on 27 March 1965, and returned the envelope to the Archives of the Holy Office, deciding not to publish the text. 

John Paul II, for his part, asked for the envelope containing the third part of the “secret” following the assassination attempt on 13 May 1981. On 18 July 1981 Cardinal Franjo Šeper, Prefect of the Congregation, gave two envelopes to Archbishop Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Substitute of the Secretariat of State: one white envelope, containing Sister Lucia's original text in Portuguese; the other orange, with the Italian translation of the “secret”. On the following 11 August, Archbishop Martínez returned the two envelopes to the Archives of the Holy Office.⁽²⁾

As is well known, Pope John Paul II immediately thought of consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and he himself composed a prayer for what he called an “Act of Entrustment”, which was to be celebrated in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on 7 June 1981, the Solemnity of Pentecost, the day chosen to commemorate the 1600th anniversary of the First Council of Constantinople and the 1550th anniversary of the Council of Ephesus. Since the Pope was unable to be present, his recorded Address was broadcast. The following is the part which refers specifically to the Act of Entrustment: 

“Mother of all individuals and peoples, you know all their sufferings and hopes. In your motherly heart you feel all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, that convulse the world: accept the plea which we make in the Holy Spirit directly to your heart, and embrace with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord those who most await this embrace, and also those whose act of entrustment you too await in a particular way. Take under your motherly protection the whole human family, which with affectionate love we entrust to you, O Mother. May there dawn for everyone the time of peace and freedom, the time of truth, of justice and of hope”.⁽³⁾

In order to respond more fully to the requests of “Our Lady”, the Holy Father desired to make more explicit during the Holy Year of the Redemption the Act of Entrustment of 7 May 1981, which had been repeated in Fatima on 13 May 1982. On 25 March 1984 in Saint Peter's Square, while recalling the fiat uttered by Mary at the Annunciation, the Holy Father, in spiritual union with the Bishops of the world, who had been “convoked” beforehand, entrusted all men and women and all peoples to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in terms which recalled the heartfelt words spoken in 1981: 

“O Mother of all men and women, and of all peoples, you who know all their sufferings and their hopes, you who have a mother's awareness of all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, which afflict the modern world, accept the cry which we, moved by the Holy Spirit, address directly to your Heart. Embrace with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord, this human world of ours, which we entrust and consecrate to you, for we are full of concern for the earthly and eternal destiny of individuals and peoples. 

In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those individuals and nations which particularly need to be thus entrusted and consecrated. 

‘We have recourse to your protection, holy Mother of God!'  Despise not our petitions in our necessities”. 

The Pope then continued more forcefully and with more specific references, as though commenting on the Message of Fatima in its sorrowful fulfilment: 

“Behold, as we stand before you, Mother of Christ, before your Immaculate Heart, we desire, together with the whole Church, to unite ourselves with the consecration which, for love of us, your Son made of himself to the Father: ‘For their sake', he said, ‘I consecrate myself that they also may be consecrated in the truth' (Jn 17:19). We wish to unite ourselves with our Redeemer in this his consecration for the world and for the human race, which, in his divine Heart, has the power to obtain pardon and to secure reparation. 

The power of this consecrationlasts for all time and embraces all individuals, peoples and nations. It overcomes every evil that the spirit of darkness is able to awaken, and has in fact awakened in our times, in the heart of man and in his history. 

How deeply we feel the need for the consecration of humanity and the world—our modern world—in union with Christ himself! For the redeeming work of Christ must be shared in by the world through the Church.

The present Year of the Redemption shows this: the special Jubilee of the whole Church. 

Above all creatures, may you be blessed, you, the Handmaid of the Lord, who in the fullest way obeyed the divine call! 

Hail to you, who are wholly united to the redeeming consecration of your Son! 

Mother of the Church! Enlighten the People of God along the paths of faith, hope, and love! Enlighten especially the peoples whose consecration and entrustment by us you are awaiting. Help us to live in the truth of the consecration of Christ for the entire human family of the modern world. 

In entrusting to you, O Mother, the world, all individuals and peoples, we also entrust to you this very consecration of the world, placing it in your motherly Heart. 

Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths towards the future! 

From famine and war, deliver us.

From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us.

From sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us.

From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us.

From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us.

From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.

From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us.

From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us.

From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us, deliver us.

Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole societies. 

Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer all sin: individual sin and the ‘sin of the world', sin in all its manifestations. 

Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the Redemption: the power of merciful Love! May it put a stop to evil! May it transform consciences! May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of Hope!”.⁽⁴⁾

Sister Lucia personally confirmed that this solemn and universal act of consecration corresponded to what Our Lady wished (“Sim, està feita, tal como Nossa Senhora a pediu, desde o dia 25 de Março de 1984”: “Yes it has been done just as Our Lady asked, on 25 March 1984”: Letter of 8 November 1989). Hence any further discussion or request is without basis. 

In the documentation presented here four other texts have been added to the manuscripts of Sister Lucia: 1) the Holy Father's letter of 19 April 2000 to Sister Lucia; 2) an account of the conversation of 27 April 2000 with Sister Lucia; 3) the statement which the Holy Father appointed Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State, to read on 13 May 2000; 4) the theological commentary by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. 

Sister Lucia had already given an indication for interpreting the third part of the “secret” in a letter to the Holy Father, dated 12 May 1982: 

“The third part of the secret refers to Our Lady's words: ‘If not [Russia] will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated' (13-VII-1917). 

The third part of the secret is a symbolic revelation, referring to this part of the Message, conditioned by whether we accept or not what the Message itself asks of us: ‘If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, etc.'. 

Since we did not heed this appeal of the Message, we see that it has been fulfilled, Russia has invaded the world with her errors. And if we have not yet seen the complete fulfilment of the final part of this prophecy, we are going towards it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject the path of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice, violations of the rights of the human person, immorality and violence, etc. 

And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are responsible”.⁽⁵⁾

The decision of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to make public the third part of the “secret” of Fatima brings to an end a period of history marked by tragic human lust for power and evil, yet pervaded by the merciful love of God and the watchful care of the Mother of Jesus and of the Church.     

The action of God, the Lord of history, and the co-responsibility of man in the drama of his creative freedom, are the two pillars upon which human history is built. 

Our Lady, who appeared at Fatima, recalls these forgotten values. She reminds us that man's future is in God, and that we are active and responsible partners in creating that future. 

Tarcisio Bertone, SDB
Archbishop Emeritus of Vercelli
Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 

THE “SECRET” OF FATIMA     

FIRST AND SECOND PART OF THE “SECRET” 

ACCORDING TO THE VERSION PRESENTED BY SISTER LUCIA
IN THE “THIRD MEMOIR” OF 31 AUGUST 1941 FOR THE BISHOP OF LEIRIA-FATIMA 

(original text)   

(translation) ⁽⁶⁾ 

... This will entail my speaking about the secret, and thus answering the first question. 

What is the secret? It seems to me that I can reveal it, since I already have permission from Heaven to do so. God's representatives on earth have authorized me to do this several times and in various letters, one of which, I believe, is in your keeping. This letter is from Father José Bernardo Gonçalves, and in it he advises me to write to the Holy Father, suggesting, among other things, that I should reveal the secret. I did say something about it. But in order not to make my letter too long, since I was told to keep it short, I confined myself to the essentials, leaving it to God to provide another more favourable opportunity. 

In my second account I have already described in detail the doubt which tormented me from 13 June until 13 July, and how it disappeared completely during the Apparition on that day. 

Well, the secret is made up of three distinct parts, two of which I am now going to reveal. 

The first part is the vision of hell. 

Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror. 

We then looked up at Our Lady, who said to us so kindly and so sadly: 

“You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world”.⁽⁷⁾ 

THIRD PART OF THE “SECRET”
(original text)    

(translation) ⁽⁸⁾ 

“J.M.J. 

The third part of the secret revealed at the Cova da Iria-Fatima, on 13 July 1917. 

I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine. 

After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!'. And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God. 

Tuy-3-1-1944”.   

INTERPRETATION OF THE “SECRET”   

LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO SISTER LUCIA
(original text) 

(translation)     

To the Reverend Sister
Maria Lucia
of the Convent of Coimbra   

In the great joy of Easter, I greet you with the words the Risen Jesus spoke to the disciples: “Peace be with you”! 

I will be happy to be able to meet you on the long-awaited day of the Beatification of Francisco and Jacinta, which, please God, I will celebrate on 13 May of this year. 

Since on that day there will be time only for a brief greeting and not a conversation, I am sending His Excellency Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to speak with you. This is the Congregation which works most closely with the Pope in defending the true Catholic faith, and which since 1957, as you know, has kept your hand-written letter containing the third part of the “secret” revealed on 13 July 1917 at Cova da Iria, Fatima. 

Archbishop Bertone, accompanied by the Bishop of Leiria, His Excellency Bishop Serafim de Sousa Ferreira e Silva, will come in my name to ask certain questions about the interpretation of “the third part of the secret”. 

Sister Maria Lucia, you may speak openly and candidly to Archbishop Bertone, who will report your answers directly to me. 

I pray fervently to the Mother of the Risen Lord for you, Reverend Sister, for the Community of Coimbra and for the whole Church. May Mary, Mother of pilgrim humanity, keep us always united to Jesus, her beloved Son and our brother, the Lord of life and glory. 

With my special Apostolic Blessing.   

IOANNES PAULUS PP. II   

From the Vatican, 19 April 2000.    

CONVERSATION
WITH SISTER MARIA LUCIA OF JESUS
AND THE IMMACULATE HEART   

The meeting between Sister Lucia, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, sent by the Holy Father, and Bishop Serafim de Sousa Ferreira e Silva, Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, took place on Thursday, 27 April 2000, in the Carmel of Saint Teresa in Coimbra. 

Sister Lucia was lucid and at ease; she was very happy that the Holy Father was going to Fatima for the Beatification of Francisco and Jacinta, something she had looked forward to for a long time. 

The Bishop of Leiria-Fatima read the autograph letter of the Holy Father, which explained the reasons for the visit. Sister Lucia felt honoured by this and reread the letter herself, contemplating it in own her hands. She said that she was prepared to answer all questions frankly. 

At this point, Archbishop Bertone presented two envelopes to her: the first containing the second, which held the third part of the “secret” of Fatima. Immediately, touching it with her fingers, she said: “This is my letter”, and then while reading it: “This is my writing”. 

The original text, in Portuguese, was read and interpreted with the help of the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima. Sister Lucia agreed with the interpretation that the third part of the “secret” was a prophetic vision, similar to those in sacred history. She repeated her conviction that the vision of Fatima concerns above all the struggle of atheistic Communism against the Church and against Christians, and describes the terrible sufferings of the victims of the faith in the twentieth century. 

When asked: “Is the principal figure in the vision the Pope?”, Sister Lucia replied at once that it was. She recalled that the three children were very sad about the suffering of the Pope, and that Jacinta kept saying: “Coitadinho do Santo Padre, tenho muita pena dos pecadores!” (“Poor Holy Father, I am very sad for sinners!”). Sister Lucia continued: “We did not know the name of the Pope; Our Lady did not tell us the name of the Pope; we did not know whether it was Benedict XV or Pius XII or Paul VI or John Paul II; but it was the Pope who was suffering and that made us suffer too”. 

As regards the passage about the Bishop dressed in white, that is, the Holy Father—as the children immediately realized during the “vision”—who is struck dead and falls to the ground, Sister Lucia was in full agreement with the Pope's claim that “it was a mother's hand that guided the bullet's path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death” (Pope John Paul II, Meditation from the Policlinico Gemelli to the Italian Bishops, 13 May 1994). 

Before giving the sealed envelope containing the third part of the “secret” to the then Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, Sister Lucia wrote on the outside envelope that it could be opened only after 1960, either by the Patriarch of Lisbon or the Bishop of Leiria. Archbishop Bertone therefore asked: “Why only after 1960? Was it Our Lady who fixed that date?” Sister Lucia replied: “It was not Our Lady. I fixed the date because I had the intuition that before 1960 it would not be understood, but that only later would it be understood. Now it can be better understood. I wrote down what I saw; however it was not for me to interpret it, but for the Pope. 

Finally, mention was made of the unpublished manuscript which Sister Lucia has prepared as a reply to the many letters that come from Marian devotees and from pilgrims. The work is called Os apelos da Mensagem de Fatima, and it gathers together in the style of catechesis and exhortation thoughts and reflections which express Sister Lucia's feelings and her clear and unaffected spirituality. She was asked if she would be happy to have it published, and she replied: “If the Holy Father agrees, then I am happy, otherwise I obey whatever the Holy Father decides”. Sister Lucia wants to present the text for ecclesiastical approval, and she hopes that what she has written will help to guide men and women of good will along the path that leads to God, the final goal of every human longing.The conversation ends with an exchange of rosaries. Sister Lucia is given a rosary sent by the Holy Father, and she in turn offers a number of rosaries made by herself. 

The meeting concludes with the blessing imparted in the name of the Holy Father.     

ANNOUNCEMENT MADE BY CARDINAL ANGELO SODANO
SECRETARY OF STATE   

At the end of the Mass presided over by the Holy Father at Fatima, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Secretary of State, made this announcement in Portuguese, which is given here in English translation: 

Brothers and Sisters in the Lord!   

At the conclusion of this solemn celebration, I feel bound to offer our beloved Holy Father Pope John Paul II, on behalf of all present, heartfelt good wishes for his approaching 80th Birthday and to thank him for his vital pastoral ministry for the good of all God's Holy Church; we present the heartfelt wishes of the whole Church. 

On this solemn occasion of his visit to Fatima, His Holiness has directed me to make an announcement to you. As you know, the purpose of his visit to Fatima has been to beatify the two “little shepherds”. Nevertheless he also wishes his pilgrimage to be a renewed gesture of gratitude to Our Lady for her protection during these years of his papacy. This protection seems also to be linked to the so-called third part of the “secret” of Fatima. 

That text contains a prophetic vision similar to those found in Sacred Scripture, which do not describe photographically the details of future events, but synthesize and compress against a single background facts which extend through time in an unspecified succession and duration. As a result, the text must be interpreted in a symbolic key.

The vision of Fatima concerns above all the war waged by atheistic systems against the Church and Christians, and it describes the immense suffering endured by the witnesses of the faith in the last century of the second millennium. It is an interminable Way of the Cross led by the Popes of the twentieth century. 

According to the interpretation of the “little shepherds”, which was also confirmed recently by Sister Lucia, “the Bishop clothed in white” who prays for all the faithful is the Pope. As he makes his way with great difficulty towards the Cross amid the corpses of those who were martyred (Bishops, priests, men and women Religious and many lay people), he too falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a hail of gunfire. 

After the assassination attempt of 13 May 1981, it appeared evident that it was “a mother's hand that guided the bullet's path”, enabling “the Pope in his throes” to halt “at the threshold of death” (Pope John Paul II, Meditation from the Policlinico Gemelli to the Italian Bishops, Insegnamenti, XVII, 1 [1994], 1061). On the occasion of a visit to Rome by the then Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, the Pope decided to give him the bullet which had remained in the jeep after the assassination attempt, so that it might be kept in the shrine. By the Bishop's decision, the bullet was later set in the crown of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima. 

The successive events of 1989 led, both in the Soviet Union and in a number of countries of Eastern Europe, to the fall of the Communist regimes which promoted atheism. For this too His Holiness offers heartfelt thanks to the Most Holy Virgin. In other parts of the world, however, attacks against the Church and against Christians, with the burden of suffering they bring, tragically continue. Even if the events to which the third part of the “secret” of Fatima refers now seem part of the past, Our Lady's call to conversion and penance, issued at the start of the twentieth century, remains timely and urgent today. “The Lady of the message seems to read the signs of the times—the signs of our time—with special insight... The insistent invitation of Mary Most Holy to penance is nothing but the manifestation of her maternal concern for the fate of the human family, in need of conversion and forgiveness” (Pope John Paul II, Message for the 1997 World Day of the Sick, No. 1, Insegnamenti, XIX, 2 [1996], 561). 

In order that the faithful may better receive the message of Our Lady of Fatima, the Pope has charged the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with making public the third part of the “secret”, after the preparation of an appropriate commentary. 

Brothers and sisters, let us thank Our Lady of Fatima for her protection. To her maternal intercession let us entrust the Church of the Third Millennium. 

Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genetrix! Intercede pro Ecclesia. Intercede pro Papa nostro Ioanne Paulo II. Amen. 

Fatima, 13 May 2000     

THEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY   

A careful reading of the text of the so-called third “secret” of Fatima, published here in its entirety long after the fact and by decision of the Holy Father, will probably prove disappointing or surprising after all the speculation it has stirred. No great mystery is revealed; nor is the future unveiled. We see the Church of the martyrs of the century which has just passed represented in a scene described in a language which is symbolic and not easy to decipher. Is this what the Mother of the Lord wished to communicate to Christianity and to humanity at a time of great difficulty and distress? Is it of any help to us at the beginning of the new millennium? Or are these only projections of the inner world of children, brought up in a climate of profound piety but shaken at the same time by the tempests which threatened their own time? How should we understand the vision? What are we to make of it?   

Public Revelation and private revelations – their theological status 

Before attempting an interpretation, the main lines of which can be found in the statement read by Cardinal Sodano on 13 May of this year at the end of the Mass celebrated by the Holy Father in Fatima, there is a need for some basic clarification of the way in which, according to Church teaching, phenomena such as Fatima are to be understood within the life of faith. The teaching of the Church distinguishes between “public Revelation” and “private revelations”. The two realities differ not only in degree but also in essence. The term “public Revelation” refers to the revealing action of God directed to humanity as a whole and which finds its literary expression in the two parts of the Bible: the Old and New Testaments. It is called “Revelation” because in it God gradually made himself known to men, to the point of becoming man himself, in order to draw to himself the whole world and unite it with himself through his Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ. It is not a matter therefore of intellectual communication, but of a life-giving process in which God comes to meet man. At the same time this process naturally produces data pertaining to the mind and to the understanding of the mystery of God. It is a process which involves man in his entirety and therefore reason as well, but not reason alone. Because God is one, history, which he shares with humanity, is also one. It is valid for all time, and it has reached its fulfilment in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has said everything, that is, he has revealed himself completely, and therefore Revelation came to an end with the fulfilment of the mystery of Christ as enunciated in the New Testament. To explain the finality and completeness of Revelation, the Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes a text of Saint John of the Cross: “In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word—and he has no more to say... because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behaviour but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty” (No. 65; Saint John of the Cross,The Ascent of Mount Carmel, II, 22).   

Because the single Revelation of God addressed to all peoples comes to completion with Christ and the witness borne to him in the books of the New Testament, the Church is tied to this unique event of sacred history and to the word of the Bible, which guarantees and interprets it. But this does not mean that the Church can now look only to the past and that she is condemned to sterile repetition. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says in this regard: “...even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made fully explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries” (No. 66). The way in which the Church is bound to both the uniqueness of the event and progress in understanding it is very well illustrated in the farewell discourse of the Lord when, taking leave of his disciples, he says: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority... He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (Jn 16:12-14). On the one hand, the Spirit acts as a guide who discloses a knowledge previously unreachable because the premise was missing—this is the boundless breadth and depth of Christian faith. On the other hand, to be guided by the Spirit is also “to draw from” the riches of Jesus Christ himself, the inexhaustible depths of which appear in the way the Spirit leads. In this regard, the Catechism cites profound words of Pope Gregory the Great: “The sacred Scriptures grow with the one who reads them” (No. 94; Gregory the Great,Homilia in Ezechielem I, 7, 8). The Second Vatican Council notes three essential ways in which the Spirit guides in the Church, and therefore three ways in which “the word grows”: through the meditation and study of the faithful, through the deep understanding which comes from spiritual experience, and through the preaching of “those who, in the succession of the episcopate, have received the sure charism of truth” (Dei Verbum, 8). 

In this context, it now becomes possible to understand rightly the concept of “private revelation”, which refers to all the visions and revelations which have taken place since the completion of the New Testament. This is the category to which we must assign the message of Fatima. In this respect, let us listen once again to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Throughout the ages, there have been so-called ‘private' revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church... It is not their role to complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history” (No. 67). This clarifies two things:   

1. The authority of private revelations is essentially different from that of the definitive public Revelation. The latter demands faith; in it in fact God himself speaks to us through human words and the mediation of the living community of the Church. Faith in God and in his word is different from any other human faith, trust or opinion. The certainty that it is God who is speaking gives me the assurance that I am in touch with truth itself. It gives me a certitude which is beyond verification by any human way of knowing. It is the certitude upon which I build my life and to which I entrust myself in dying.   

2. Private revelation is a help to this faith, and shows its credibility precisely by leading me back to the definitive public Revelation. In this regard, Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, the future Pope Benedict XIV, says in his classic treatise, which later became normative for beatifications and canonizations: “An assent of Catholic faith is not due to revelations approved in this way; it is not even possible. These revelations seek rather an assent of human faith in keeping with the requirements of prudence, which puts them before us as probable and credible to piety”. The Flemish theologian E. Dhanis, an eminent scholar in this field, states succinctly that ecclesiastical approval of a private revelation has three elements: the message contains nothing contrary to faith or morals; it is lawful to make it public; and the faithful are authorized to accept it with prudence (E. Dhanis,Sguardo su Fatima e bilancio di una discussione, in La Civiltà Cattolica 104 [1953], II, 392-406, in particular 397). Such a message can be a genuine help in understanding the Gospel and living it better at a particular moment in time; therefore it should not be disregarded. It is a help which is offered, but which one is not obliged to use.   

The criterion for the truth and value of a private revelation is therefore its orientation to Christ himself. When it leads us away from him, when it becomes independent of him or even presents itself as another and better plan of salvation, more important than the Gospel, then it certainly does not come from the Holy Spirit, who guides us more deeply into the Gospel and not away from it. This does not mean that a private revelation will not offer new emphases or give rise to new devotional forms, or deepen and spread older forms. But in all of this there must be a nurturing of faith, hope and love, which are the unchanging path to salvation for everyone. We might add that private revelations often spring from popular piety and leave their stamp on it, giving it a new impulse and opening the way for new forms of it. Nor does this exclude that they will have an effect even on the liturgy, as we see for instance in the feasts of Corpus Christi and of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From one point of view, the relationship between Revelation and private revelations appears in the relationship between the liturgy and popular piety: the liturgy is the criterion, it is the living form of the Church as a whole, fed directly by the Gospel. Popular piety is a sign that the faith is spreading its roots into the heart of a people in such a way that it reaches into daily life. Popular religiosity is the first and fundamental mode of “inculturation” of the faith. While it must always take its lead and direction from the liturgy, it in turn enriches the faith by involving the heart.   

We have thus moved from the somewhat negative clarifications, initially needed, to a positive definition of private revelations. How can they be classified correctly in relation to Scripture? To which theological category do they belong? The oldest letter of Saint Paul which has been preserved, perhaps the oldest of the New Testament texts, the First Letter to the Thessalonians, seems to me to point the way. The Apostle says: “Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything, holding fast to what is good” (5:19-21). In every age the Church has received the charism of prophecy, which must be scrutinized but not scorned. On this point, it should be kept in mind that prophecy in the biblical sense does not mean to predict the future but to explain the will of God for the present, and therefore show the right path to take for the future. A person who foretells what is going to happen responds to the curiosity of the mind, which wants to draw back the veil on the future. The prophet speaks to the blindness of will and of reason, and declares the will of God as an indication and demand for the present time. In this case, prediction of the future is of secondary importance. What is essential is the actualization of the definitive Revelation, which concerns me at the deepest level. The prophetic word is a warning or a consolation, or both together. In this sense there is a link between the charism of prophecy and the category of “the signs of the times”, which Vatican II brought to light anew: “You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky; why then do you not know how to interpret the present time?” (Lk 12:56). In this saying of Jesus, the “signs of the times” must be understood as the path he was taking, indeed it must be understood as Jesus himself. To interpret the signs of the times in the light of faith means to recognize the presence of Christ in every age. In the private revelations approved by the Church—and therefore also in Fatima—this is the point: they help us to understand the signs of the times and to respond to them rightly in faith.   

The anthropological structure of private revelations 

In these reflections we have sought so far to identify the theological status of private revelations. Before undertaking an interpretation of the message of Fatima, we must still attempt briefly to offer some clarification of their anthropological (psychological) character. In this field, theological anthropology distinguishes three forms of perception or “vision”: vision with the senses, and hence exterior bodily perception, interior perception, and spiritual vision (visio sensibilis - imaginativa - intellectualis). It is clear that in the visions of Lourdes, Fatima and other places it is not a question of normal exterior perception of the senses: the images and forms which are seen are not located spatially, as is the case for example with a tree or a house. This is perfectly obvious, for instance, as regards the vision of hell (described in the first part of the Fatima “secret”) or even the vision described in the third part of the “secret”. But the same can be very easily shown with regard to other visions, especially since not everybody present saw them, but only the “visionaries”. It is also clear that it is not a matter of a “vision” in the mind, without images, as occurs at the higher levels of mysticism. Therefore we are dealing with the middle category, interior perception. For the visionary, this perception certainly has the force of a presence, equivalent for that person to an external manifestation to the senses.   

Interior vision does not mean fantasy, which would be no more than an expression of the subjective imagination. It means rather that the soul is touched by something real, even if beyond the senses. It is rendered capable of seeing that which is beyond the senses, that which cannot be seen—seeing by means of the “interior senses”. It involves true “objects”, which touch the soul, even if these “objects” do not belong to our habitual sensory world. This is why there is a need for an interior vigilance of the heart, which is usually precluded by the intense pressure of external reality and of the images and thoughts which fill the soul. The person is led beyond pure exteriority and is touched by deeper dimensions of reality, which become visible to him. Perhaps this explains why children tend to be the ones to receive these apparitions: their souls are as yet little disturbed, their interior powers of perception are still not impaired. “On the lips of children and of babes you have found praise”, replies Jesus with a phrase of Psalm 8 (v. 3) to the criticism of the High Priests and elders, who had judged the children's cries of “hosanna” inappropriate (cf. Mt 21:16).   

“Interior vision” is not fantasy but, as we have said, a true and valid means of verification. But it also has its limitations. Even in exterior vision the subjective element is always present. We do not see the pure object, but it comes to us through the filter of our senses, which carry out a work of translation. This is still more evident in the case of interior vision, especially when it involves realities which in themselves transcend our horizon. The subject, the visionary, is still more powerfully involved. He sees insofar as he is able, in the modes of representation and consciousness available to him. In the case of interior vision, the process of translation is even more extensive than in exterior vision, for the subject shares in an essential way in the formation of the image of what appears. He can arrive at the image only within the bounds of his capacities and possibilities. Such visions therefore are never simple “photographs” of the other world, but are influenced by the potentialities and limitations of the perceiving subject.   

This can be demonstrated in all the great visions of the saints; and naturally it is also true of the visions of the children at Fatima. The images described by them are by no means a simple expression of their fantasy, but the result of a real perception of a higher and interior origin. But neither should they be thought of as if for a moment the veil of the other world were drawn back, with heaven appearing in its pure essence, as one day we hope to see it in our definitive union with God. Rather the images are, in a manner of speaking, a synthesis of the impulse coming from on high and the capacity to receive this impulse in the visionaries, that is, the children. For this reason, the figurative language of the visions is symbolic. In this regard, Cardinal Sodano stated: “[they] do not describe photographically the details of future events, but synthesize and compress against a single background facts which extend through time in an unspecified succession and duration”. This compression of time and place in a single image is typical of such visions, which for the most part can be deciphered only in retrospect. Not every element of the vision has to have a specific historical sense. It is the vision as a whole that matters, and the details must be understood on the basis of the images taken in their entirety. The central element of the image is revealed where it coincides with what is the focal point of Christian “prophecy” itself: the centre is found where the vision becomes a summons and a guide to the will of God. 

An attempt to interpret the “secret” of Fatima 

The first and second parts of the “secret” of Fatima have already been so amply discussed in the relative literature that there is no need to deal with them again here. I would just like to recall briefly the most significant point. For one terrible moment, the children were given a vision of hell. They saw the fall of “the souls of poor sinners”. And now they are told why they have been exposed to this moment: “in order to save souls”—to show the way to salvation. The words of the First Letter of Peter come to mind: “As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls” (1:9). To reach this goal, the way indicated —surprisingly for people from the Anglo-Saxon and German cultural world—is devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A brief comment may suffice to explain this. In biblical language, the “heart” indicates the centre of human life, the point where reason, will, temperament and sensitivity converge, where the person finds his unity and his interior orientation. According to Matthew 5:8, the “immaculate heart” is a heart which, with God's grace, has come to perfect interior unity and therefore “sees God”. To be “devoted” to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means therefore to embrace this attitude of heart, which makes the fiat—“your will be done”—the defining centre of one's whole life. It might be objected that we should not place a human being between ourselves and Christ. But then we remember that Paul did not hesitate to say to his communities: “imitate me” (1 Cor 4:16; Phil 3:17; 1 Th 1:6; 2 Th 3:7, 9). In the Apostle they could see concretely what it meant to follow Christ. But from whom might we better learn in every age than from the Mother of the Lord?   

Thus we come finally to the third part of the “secret” of Fatima which for the first time is being published in its entirety. As is clear from the documentation presented here, the interpretation offered by Cardinal Sodano in his statement of 13 May was first put personally to Sister Lucia. Sister Lucia responded by pointing out that she had received the vision but not its interpretation. The interpretation, she said, belonged not to the visionary but to the Church. After reading the text, however, she said that this interpretation corresponded to what she had experienced and that on her part she thought the interpretation correct. In what follows, therefore, we can only attempt to provide a deeper foundation for this interpretation, on the basis of the criteria already considered.  

“To save souls” has emerged as the key word of the first and second parts of the “secret”, and the key word of this third part is the threefold cry: “Penance, Penance, Penance!” The beginning of the Gospel comes to mind: “Repent and believe the Good News” (Mk 1:15). To understand the signs of the times means to accept the urgency of penance – of conversion – of faith. This is the correct response to this moment of history, characterized by the grave perils outlined in the images that follow. Allow me to add here a personal recollection: in a conversation with me Sister Lucia said that it appeared ever more clearly to her that the purpose of all the apparitions was to help people to grow more and more in faith, hope and love—everything else was intended to lead to this.   

Let us now examine more closely the single images. The angel with the flaming sword on the left of the Mother of God recalls similar images in the Book of Revelation. This represents the threat of judgement which looms over the world. Today the prospect that the world might be reduced to ashes by a sea of fire no longer seems pure fantasy: man himself, with his inventions, has forged the flaming sword. The vision then shows the power which stands opposed to the force of destruction—the splendour of the Mother of God and, stemming from this in a certain way, the summons to penance. In this way, the importance of human freedom is underlined: the future is not in fact unchangeably set, and the image which the children saw is in no way a film preview of a future in which nothing can be changed. Indeed, the whole point of the vision is to bring freedom onto the scene and to steer freedom in a positive direction. The purpose of the vision is not to show a film of an irrevocably fixed future. Its meaning is exactly the opposite: it is meant to mobilize the forces of change in the right direction. Therefore we must totally discount fatalistic explanations of the “secret”, such as, for example, the claim that the would-be assassin of 13 May 1981 was merely an instrument of the divine plan guided by Providence and could not therefore have acted freely, or other similar ideas in circulation. Rather, the vision speaks of dangers and how we might be saved from them.   

The next phrases of the text show very clearly once again the symbolic character of the vision: God remains immeasurable, and is the light which surpasses every vision of ours. Human persons appear as in a mirror. We must always keep in mind the limits in the vision itself, which here are indicated visually. The future appears only “in a mirror dimly” (1 Cor 13:12). Let us now consider the individual images which follow in the text of the “secret”. The place of the action is described in three symbols: a steep mountain, a great city reduced to ruins and finally a large rough-hewn cross. The mountain and city symbolize the arena of human history: history as an arduous ascent to the summit, history as the arena of human creativity and social harmony, but at the same time a place of destruction, where man actually destroys the fruits of his own work. The city can be the place of communion and progress, but also of danger and the most extreme menace. On the mountain stands the cross—the goal and guide of history. The cross transforms destruction into salvation; it stands as a sign of history's misery but also as a promise for history.   

At this point human persons appear: the Bishop dressed in white (“we had the impression that it was the Holy Father”), other Bishops, priests, men and women Religious, and men and women of different ranks and social positions. The Pope seems to precede the others, trembling and suffering because of all the horrors around him. Not only do the houses of the city lie half in ruins, but he makes his way among the corpses of the dead. The Church's path is thus described as a Via Crucis, as a journey through a time of violence, destruction and persecution. The history of an entire century can be seen represented in this image. Just as the places of the earth are synthetically described in the two images of the mountain and the city, and are directed towards the cross, so too time is presented in a compressed way. In the vision we can recognize the last century as a century of martyrs, a century of suffering and persecution for the Church, a century of World Wars and the many local wars which filled the last fifty years and have inflicted unprecedented forms of cruelty. In the “mirror” of this vision we see passing before us the witnesses of the faith decade by decade. Here it would be appropriate to mention a phrase from the letter which Sister Lucia wrote to the Holy Father on 12 May 1982: “The third part of the ‘secret' refers to Our Lady's words: ‘If not, [Russia] will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated'”.   

In the Via Crucis of an entire century, the figure of the Pope has a special role. In his arduous ascent of the mountain we can undoubtedly see a convergence of different Popes. Beginning from Pius X up to the present Pope, they all shared the sufferings of the century and strove to go forward through all the anguish along the path which leads to the Cross. In the vision, the Pope too is killed along with the martyrs. When, after the attempted assassination on 13 May 1981, the Holy Father had the text of the third part of the “secret” brought to him, was it not inevitable that he should see in it his own fate? He had been very close to death, and he himself explained his survival in the following words: “... it was a mother's hand that guided the bullet's path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death” (13 May 1994). That here “a mother's hand” had deflected the fateful bullet only shows once more that there is no immutable destiny, that faith and prayer are forces which can influence history and that in the end prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than armies.   

The concluding part of the “secret” uses images which Lucia may have seen in devotional books and which draw their inspiration from long-standing intuitions of faith. It is a consoling vision, which seeks to open a history of blood and tears to the healing power of God. Beneath the arms of the cross angels gather up the blood of the martyrs, and with it they give life to the souls making their way to God. Here, the blood of Christ and the blood of the martyrs are considered as one: the blood of the martyrs runs down from the arms of the cross. The martyrs die in communion with the Passion of Christ, and their death becomes one with his. For the sake of the body of Christ, they complete what is still lacking in his afflictions (cf. Col 1:24). Their life has itself become a Eucharist, part of the mystery of the grain of wheat which in dying yields abundant fruit. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians, said Tertullian. As from Christ's death, from his wounded side, the Church was born, so the death of the witnesses is fruitful for the future life of the Church. Therefore, the vision of the third part of the “secret”, so distressing at first, concludes with an image of hope: no suffering is in vain, and it is a suffering Church, a Church of martyrs, which becomes a sign-post for man in his search for God. The loving arms of God welcome not only those who suffer like Lazarus, who found great solace there and mysteriously represents Christ, who wished to become for us the poor Lazarus. There is something more: from the suffering of the witnesses there comes a purifying and renewing power, because their suffering is the actualization of the suffering of Christ himself and a communication in the here and now of its saving effect.   

And so we come to the final question: What is the meaning of the “secret” of Fatima as a whole (in its three parts)? What does it say to us? First of all we must affirm with Cardinal Sodano: “... the events to which the third part of the ‘secret' of Fatima refers now seem part of the past”. Insofar as individual events are described, they belong to the past. Those who expected exciting apocalyptic revelations about the end of the world or the future course of history are bound to be disappointed. Fatima does not satisfy our curiosity in this way, just as Christian faith in general cannot be reduced to an object of mere curiosity. What remains was already evident when we began our reflections on the text of the “secret”: the exhortation to prayer as the path of “salvation for souls” and, likewise, the summons to penance and conversion.   

I would like finally to mention another key expression of the “secret” which has become justly famous: “my Immaculate Heart will triumph”. What does this mean? The Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of God, is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind. The fiat of Mary, the word of her heart, has changed the history of the world, because it brought the Saviour into the world—because, thanks to her Yes, God could become man in our world and remains so for all time. The Evil One has power in this world, as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedom continually lets itself be led away from God. But since God himself took a human heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good, the freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word. From that time forth, the word that prevails is this: “In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). The message of Fatima invites us to trust in this promise. 

JosephCard. Ratzinger
Prefect of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith 

(1) From the diary of John XXIII, 17 August 1959: “Audiences: Father Philippe, Commissary of the Holy Office, who brought me the letter containing the third part of the secrets of Fatima. I intend to read it with my Confessor”.   

(2) The Holy Father's comment at the General Audience of 14 October 1981 on “What happened in May: A Great Divine Trial” should be recalled: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, IV, 2 (Vatican City, 1981), 409-412.  

(3) Radio message during the Ceremony of Veneration, Thanksgiving and Entrustment to the Virgin Mary Theotokos in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, IV, 1 (Vatican City, 1981), 1246.   

(4) On the Jubilee Day for Families, the Pope entrusted individuals and nations to Our Lady: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, VII, 1 (Vatican City, 1984), 775-777.    

(5)

(6) In the “Fourth Memoir” of 8 December 1941 Sister Lucia writes: “I shall begin then my new task, and thus fulfil the commands received from Your Excellency as well as the desires of Dr Galamba. With the exception of that part of the Secret which I am not permitted to reveal at present, I shall say everything. I shall not knowingly omit anything, though I suppose I may forget just a few small details of minor importance”.   

(7) In the “Fourth Memoir” Sister Lucia adds: “In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc. ...”.   

(8) In the translation, the original text has been respected, even as regards the imprecise punctuation, which nevertheless does not impede an understanding of what the visionary wished to say. 

Fatima

The world is increasingly convulsed by a series of deepening crises that appear beyond the capacity of human beings to alleviate or solve. The evidence of social stress and moral decay is everywhere around us. In particular, the family, the wellspring and guarantor of civilization, is beset and beleaguered on all sides, caught in a rising tide of abortion, divorce, drug and alcohol abuse and inter-generational conflict. As we look around us, we see a world fast collapsing into violence, corruption and sin. Whether on the blood drenched "killing fields" of Lebanon or Bosnia or on the "mean streets" of New York or Los Angeles, the lives of millions of ordinary people remain in terrible (and growing) peril.
Within the Catholic community, there are additional causes for concern. Our increasingly empty pews, confessionals, seminaries and convents are grim testimony to the continuing crisis within our Holy Faith. In the vast majority of industrialized nations, attendance at Mass has fallen into single digits (in Germany, for example, less than five percent of all Catholics regularly attend Mass and the numbers are not much better in North America). Since the close of the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, the Church has witnessed its influence and authority decline to a level not seen in more than 1800 years! Many theologians and Fatima authorities now believe that this crisis within the Catholic Faith is the subject of the still-unreleased Third Secret of Fatima and contains Heaven's answer to the widespread chaos and confusion within the Church.
As we approach the new millennium, the God-given right of all human beings to life is under violent attack on all sides. Since the legalization of abortion in the United States, more than 30,000,000 children have been murdered in their own mother's wombs. Around the globe, this silent "slaughter of the innocents" continues to produce a holocaust of death unparalleled in human history. Current trends to legalize euthanasia and broaden the use of so-called "mercy killing" in the United States, Canada and throughout Europe are certain to result in the deaths of additional millions of elderly, infirm and/or otherwise "unwanted" human beings.
Certainly, some of the terrible problems confronting the world can (and should) be solved within the family circle and by men and women of good will working within their own spheres of influence. Nevertheless, many problems remain beyond the scope of the ordinary individual. Government, far from providing solutions, is all too often the source of the problem. So too, science and industry, once hailed as the new "savours" of mankind, have produced vast social and cultural dislocations and given birth to technologies that threaten the lives and well-being of billions of men, women and children. One does not have to be "anti-science" to recognize that difficult dilemmas like climactic change, nuclear war and pollution threaten everyone.
While some of the problems we face today are the result of natural or historical processes, it is increasingly clear that many others are the deliberate product of forces opposed to the Christian Faith and consciously dedicated to the destruction of our civilization's most treasured values and ideals. The rise of Communism in the first half of the 20th Century engendered the widespread glorification of materialism and atheism, establishing a new "religion of man" without and opposed to God. Speaking at Fatima six months before the Bolshevik Revolution, Our Lady warned that, if man did not stop offending God, He would use Russia as His chosen "instrument" to punish the world. She further declared that, if Her Fatima requests (especially for the consecration of Russia) were not heeded, that Russia would "spread her errors across the earth, raising up wars and...annihilating various nations."
And just as God's Mother predicted, the "errors" of Russia -- materialism, militant atheism, totalitarianism, abortion, euthanasia and genocide -- have spread across the face of the earth, leaving mountains of corpses as the "fruits" by which "ye shall know them" (Matthew 7:16). Dozens of nations and peoples have been mercilessly exterminated in the name of philosophies and political parties deriving from the same anti-God, anti-religious doctrine first enshrined into law in Bolshevik Russia in 1917. Despite the much-heralded "death of Communism," the 40,000 corpses lying in Chechnya today demonstrate that Russia's "errors" continue to exact a relentless and bloody toll on the world's people.

At Fatima, Our Lady declared: "Only I can help you." Considering the confusion, chaos and violence surrounding us everywhere today, Her words seem less a prophetic promise than an obvious and undeniable statement of fact.

History

Almighty God tells us in Holy Scripture that the Blessed Virgin will defeat the devil, his followers and plots: "I will put enmities between thee and the Woman, and thy seen and Her seed: She shall crush thy head and thou shalt lie in wait for Her heel." (Gen. 3:15). In Her appearances at Fatima, the Mother of God solemnly promised us final victory over the forces of evil in our own time. "In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph," She told us, "the Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me. Russia will be converted and a period of peace shall be given to mankind."
Because the warnings that Our Lady gave the world at Fatima are so stern and terrible, many have mistakenly characterised Her Message as "apocalyptic." Yet at the heart of the Fatima Message is the promise of peace which the Blessed Virgin offers to all men and women of faith and good will. In both its simplicity and its universality, Our Lady's Message is an unique Heaven-sent opportunity for all people everywhere to work for a real, lasting peace in our homes, churches and nations.

"If people do what I tell you, many, souls will be saved and there will be peace."

Our Lady's Peace Plan is founded on three simple, but powerful requests. The first is a request for prayer, most particularly the Holy Rosary and the devotion of the Brown Scapular. The second calls for us to make reparation for the sins and outrages perpetrated against God's Grace and blasphemies against the Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The third request is for consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, both on a personal basis and, publicly, that of Russia (and Russia specifically) by the Pope and all the world's bishops.

PRAYER. Each time the Blessed Virgin appeared to the three children at Fatima, She repeated Her requests that we pray the Rosary each day. In the final vision, on October 13, 1917, Our Lady silently held out the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel as a sign of Her desire that we undertake this great devotion. In fact, Sister Lucy has stated that "the Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable." Emerging from faith, prayer becomes the unshakeable foundation for peace in Heaven's plan for our salvation.

REPARATION.

At Fatima, Our Lady told the seers that Our Lord is much offended by sin and declared that "people must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins." She also told them that She would return later to ask for a new devotion of reparation in order to save souls. True to Her word, on the evening of December 10, 1925, She and the Child Jesus appeared to Sister Lucy in her convent cell in Pontevedra, Spain. Showing the young nun a Heart encircled by thorns, Our Lady told her to announce to the world in Her Name that she would assist, at the moment of death, all those who, on the First Saturday of five consecutive months confessed, received Holy Communion, recited five decades of the Rosary and spent fifteen minutes meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary with the intention of making reparation to Her. Arising from hope, this great devotion of the Five First Saturdays now unites millions of hearts in an unbroken chain of reparation for sin and atonement for offences against the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

CONSECRATION. To consecrate is to make holy, to dedicate to God and to declare as sacred. Our Lady's Plan for Peace is a call to both personal and public consecration. In accordance with Holy Gospel, the Mother of God asks each of us to consecrate our lives to Her Immaculate Heart, letting it become our gateway to Her Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. At the same time, Our Lady also asks the Church to publicly acknowledge Her divinely-appointed rôle as the Mediatrix of all Graces and Queen of Peace by consecrating Russia (and specifically Russia) to Her Immaculate Heart in a public ceremony by the Pope and all the world's Catholic bishops. "By this means," She promises, "to convert that poor nation" and bring peace to the world. Speaking to Sister Lucy, Our Lord has confirmed that it is His intention that this great public act shall glorify His Blessed Mother's Immaculate Heart throughout the world. Deriving as it does from charity or selfless love, the act of consecration is the single most important element in Our Lady's Plan for Peace.
Speaking to Sister Lucy, Our Lord has said: "I wish My Church to...put the devotion to this Immaculate Heart beside the devotion to My Sacred Heart." The Plan for Peace which Our Lady announced at Fatima is, in essence, an effort to unite the hearts of millions with those of Herself and Her Divine Son, the union of which is the very source and wellspring of true peace in the world.
St. James the Apostle has written that he who can do good and does not, does evil. Our Lady has given us a simple Three-Point Plan to bring peace to our families, to our nations, to our communities and to the entire world. She asks so little, yet promises so much. Join us in working for the great triumph of Her Immaculate Heart and the peace of Heaven that is promised through the Grace of Her Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, appeared six times to three shepherd children ("the Three Seers") near the town of Fatima, Portugal between May 13th and October 13th 1917. Appearing to the children, the Blessed Virgin told them that She had been sent by God with a message for every man, woman and child living in our century. Coming at a time when civilization was torn asunder by war and bloody violence, She promised that Heaven would grant peace to all the world if Her requests for prayer, reparation and consecration were heard and obeyed.

"If My requests are granted ... there will be peace"

Our Lady of Fatima explained to the children that war is a punishment for sin and warned that God would further castigate the world for its disobedience to His Will by means of war, hunger and the persecution of the Church, the Holy Father and the Catholic Faithful. God's Mother prophesized that Russia would be God's chosen "instrument of chastisement," spreading the "errors" of atheism and materialism across the earth, fomenting wars, annihilating nations and persecuting the Faithful everywhere.

"If My requests are not granted, Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, raising up wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martryed, the Holy Father will suffer much and various nations will be annihilated."

In all Her appearances at Fatima, the Blessed Mother repeatedly emphasized the necessity of praying the Rosary daily, of wearing the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel and of performing acts of reparation and sacrifice. To prevent the terrible chastisement at the hands of Russia and to convert "that poor nation", Our Lady requested the solemn public Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart by the Pope and all the Catholic bishops of the world. She also asked that the Faithful practice a new devotion of reparation on the first Saturday of five consecutive months ("the Five First Saturdays")
The heart of Our Lady's Message to the world is contained in what has come to be called the "Secret" which She confided to the three child seers in July 1917. The Secret actually consists of three parts, the first two of which have been publicly revealed. The first part of the Secret was a horrifying vision of hell "where the souls of poor sinners go" and contained an urgent plea from Our Lady for acts of prayer and sacrifice to save souls. The second part of the Secret specifically prophesized the outbreak of World War II and contained the Mother of God's solemn request for the Consecration of Russia as a condition of world peace. It also predicted the inevitable triumph of Her Immaculate Heart following Russia's consecration and the conversion "of that poor nation" to the Catholic Faith.
The last part of the Secret (often called the "Third Secret") has not yet been made public, but was written down by Lucy Dos Santos, the last living Fatima seer, in 1944 and has been in the possession of the Holy See since 1957. Most informed sources speculate that this portion of the Secret concerns chaos in the Catholic Church, predicting widespread apostasy and a loss of faith beginning in the sixth decade of the 20th century.

"You saw hell where the souls of poor sinners go. In order to save them, God wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. If people do what I ask, many souls will be saved and there will be peace."

At the time that She confided the Fatima Secret to the three seers, the Blessed Virgin also promised that God would work a great miracle the following October "so that all may believe." On October 13th 1917, in the presence of 70,000 eyewitnesses, a miracle was worked in the sky above Fatima at the exact moment and in the precise spot that the children had announced earlier. Witnesses recounted that the sun appeared to actually "dance" in the sky and seemed to fall to the ground before resuming its normal place in the heavens.

"On the last month, I will perform a miracle so that all may believe."

This event has now become known as "the Miracle of the Sun" and has been justly characterized as the greatest supernatural occurance of the 20th century. As one leading Fatima authority has noted, this great miracle "does not belong (only) to the domain of faith, or even that of science. Before all else it is an historical event."
The Catholic Church has officially endorsed the Fatima Message "as worthy of belief" since 1930. Five successive popes have publicly indicated their approval and belief in the validity and critical importance of the Fatima apparitions. Several popes have visited Fatima on solemn pilgrimage and Pope John Paul II has gone at least once in every decade of his pontificate. His Holiness has publicly credited Our Lady of Fatima for saving his life during an assassination attempt in 1981 (which, parenthetically, took place on the 64th anniversary of the first Fatima apparition). The following year, while in Fatima to give thanks for Her intervention, the Pope stated that "the message of Fatima is more relevant and more urgent" today than even when Our Lady first appeared.

"In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted and a period of peace will be granted to the world."

In the years since the Queen of Heaven's appearances at Fatima, innumerable books, pamphlets, recordings, films and video programs have been produced as part of a growing worldwide movement of faith and devotion . Belief in the Fatima apparations and Our Lady's full Message are now widely synonymous with an orthodox adherence to the doctrines, rites and traditional practices and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Many theologians believe that Our Lady's Message is uniquely designed for the difficult and trying times in which we live today and suggest that it is Heaven's intervention to save the world from war, hunger and need, the Catholic Church from apostasy and chaos and the souls of countless millions from eternal damnation. While stern in its warning of the terrible punishments for sin and disobedience, Fatima remains fundamentally a life-affirming and faith-building message of hope and peace for all Catholics and others of good will everywhere.

"Only I can help you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God."  

The Third Secret Revealed!
Introduction

The Third Secret Revealed!
by Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity
Part One

S ince the Third Secret of Fatima has still not been officially revealed, it seems obvious at first sight, that we can know nothing of its content. This however, is only so in appearance. For if it is true that this vital secret remained absolutely impenetrable in 1917 when it was revealed by the Blessed Virgin to the three shepherd children of Aljustrel, or in 1944 when it was written down by Sister Lucy, or yet again in 1960 at the time when it was to have been publicly revealed to the world by Pope John XXIII, that is no longer the case today. Indeed, for more than 40 years, a number of certain facts concerning it have become known.
They form today an impressive mass of sure information from which the historian can precisely retrace its entire history and expose its essential content with a considerable degree of certitude. Such has been my double concern in writing my third volume of "The Whole Truth About Fatima", which is completely devoted to the mystery of the Third Secret.
It is this minutely detailed demonstration that I shall attempt to present to you while simplifying it and summarizing much of it, for I must be brief. But I will tell you sufficiently about it, I hope, to show you how important this final secret of Our Lady is. How it is at the very heart of the Message of Fatima, and finally why it is urgent for the good of the Church that it be revealed to the world according to the command of the Blessed Virgin.

I. THE DRAMA OF THE THIRD SECRET

It was in July/August, 1941, in her third memoir, that Sister Lucy mentioned for the first time the division of the Secret of Fatima into three distinct parts. "The Secret is composed of three distinct matters," she writes, "And I shall disclose two of them." The first is the vision of hell and the designation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary as the supreme remedy offered by God to humanity for the salvation of souls. "In order to save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart." The second, is the great prophecy concerning a miraculous peace which God wishes to grant to the world through the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the practice of Communions of Reparation on the first Saturdays of the month.(1) "If people heed My commands, Russia will be converted and the world will have peace." And there is also the announcement of terrible punishments if people persist in not obeying Her requests. As for the third part of the Secret, in 1941, Sister Lucy declares that for the moment she is not permitted to reveal it.

The Writing Down and the Transmission of the Secret

The dramatic account of the writing down and the transmission of this vital Message begins in 1943. The hour of providence had then struck. Sister Lucy was living at that time in the convent of the Dorothian Sisters of Tuy, in Spain. In June, 1943, she suddenly fell gravely ill. Her condition was so alarming that Bishop da Silva, the Bishop of Leiria/Fatima, became worried. He feared that she would die before having revealed the Third Secret of Our Lady and he sensed that it would be the loss of an exceptional grace for the Church. Canon Galamba, the friend and advisor of the Bishop, then suggested to him an extremely judicious idea, that he at least ask Sister Lucy to write down forthwith, the text of the Third Secret and then that she place it in an envelope sealed with wax, to be opened later.
On September 15, 1943, Bishop da Silva went, therefore, to Tuy and he asked Sister Lucy to write down the Secret "if she really wanted to". But the seer, undoubtedly under the impulse of the Holy Spirit was not content with this vague order. She requested of her bishop a written order, formal and perfectly clear - that is very important. The final Message of the Virgin of Fatima is, as previously were Her other requests, linked to marvelous promises. It is an exceptional grace offered by God to our 20th century in order to meet its most urgent needs. But again it is necessary that the pastors of the Church have sufficient faith and docility to the designs of Heaven in order to be instruments of this outpouring of grace that God wants to bestow upon the world through the sweet mediation of His Immaculate Mother. In 1943, God desired that it be the Bishop of Leiria, who demanded of this messenger the writing down of the Third Secret.
Finally, in mid-October, 1943, Bishop da Silva made up his mind. He wrote to Sister Lucy, giving her the express order that she had besought of him. However, new difficulties would arise. Sister Lucy experienced at that time, for almost three months, a mysterious and terrible anguish. She has related that each time she sat down at her work table and took her pen in order to write down the Secret, she found herself obstructed from doing it. One must, no doubt, see there the last outburst of Satan against the messenger of the Immaculate One.
Guessing what a terrible weapon this great prophecy could set up against his dominion over souls and his plan to penetrate the very heart of the Church, such a trial endured by the seer thus indicated the magnitude of the grandiose event which was about to be carried out, should the Secret be put down on paper.
On Christmas Eve, Sister Lucy confided to her director that she had still been unable to obey the order that she had been given.
Finally, on the 2nd of January, 1944, (this is very little known) the Blessed Virgin Mary Herself appeared again to Lucy. She confirmed to her that such was truly the Will of God and gave her the light and the strength to accomplish the writing that had been commanded.
The extreme care that Sister Lucy then took to transmit it with complete safety to its recipient, Bishop da Silva, is a new proof of the exceptional importance which she attributes to this document.
She did not wish to entrust it to anyone but a Bishop. It was Bishop Ferreira, Archbishop of Gurza, who received from the hands of Sister Lucy, the envelope sealed with wax containing the precious document. He delivered it the same evening to Bishop da Silva.
Concerning the transmission of the Secret to the Hierarchy, it is necessary to underline four facts of the highest importance:
Fact#1. The immediate recipient of the Secret was Bishop da Silva and he could have read it at once. Sister Lucy told him so from the Blessed Virgin. But frightened by the responsibility that he would have to assume, he did not dare, he did not wish to have knowledge of it. He then tried to commit it to the Holy Office, but Rome refused to receive it. It was then agreed that if Bishop da Silva happened to die, the envelope would be entrusted to Cardinal Cerejeira, the Patriarch of Lisbon. It is therefore false to say, as has been so often repeated after 1960, that the Third Secret is destined explicitly and exclusively to the Holy Father!
Fact#2. It is true, however, - I provide several proofs of it in my book - that Sister Lucy wanted Pope Pius XII to know the Secret without further delay. Unfortunately, that did not happen.
Fact#3. Ascertaining that Bishop da Silva persisted in not wishing to open the envelope, Sister Lucy "made him promise, in the words of Canon Galamba, that the Third Secret would be opened and read to the world upon her death or in 1960, whichever would happen first." A series of testimonies which give us an account of the repeated statements of Sister Lucy enabled this fact to be established with absolute certitude.
Fact#4. Finally, this promise to disclose the Secret immediately after the death of Sister Lucy or in any case, "in 1960 at the latest", surely corresponds to a request by the Virgin Mary Herself. In fact, when in 1946, Canon Barthas asked the seer why it would be necessary to wait until 1960, Sister Lucy replied to him in the presence of Bishop da Silva, "Because the Blessed Virgin wishes it so."
Briefly stated, I have established it solidly in my book and we have all the proofs that God desired, willed that the final Secret of Our Lady be finally believed by the Pastors of the Church and made public to the faithful. This was to be done at the earliest in 1944 or at the latest by 1960 because as Sister Lucy further explained, "It would become clearer at that time."

Part Two

I cannot linger here on a still mysterious episode in the history of the Third Secret: In 1957, the Holy Office demanded the text of it, kept until then at the palace of the Bishop of Leiria/Fatima. Who took this initiative? With what intention? A detailed analysis of the facts have enabled me to formulate a plausible hypothesis but I have not arrived at any certitude.
In mid March, 1957, Bishop da Silva entrusted his Auxiliary Bishop Venancio with the responsibility of delivering the precious document to Bishop Cento, the Apostolic Nuncio to Lisbon at that time. Bishop Venancio implored his bishop to finally read the Secret and to make a copy of it before sending the manuscript to Rome, but the old bishop persisted in his refusal. Bishop Venancio, who related this to me in Fatima on February 13, 1983, had to content himself with looking at the envelope while holding it up to the light. He could see inside a little sheet of which he measured the exact size. We thus know that the Third Secret is not very long, probably 20 to 25 lines, that is to say about the same length as the Second Secret. This allows us to reject as certainly inauthentic, several texts much too long, which some forgers have tried to foist upon the public as being the true Secret of Fatima.
On the 16th of April, 1957, the sealed envelope arrived in Rome. What became of it? It was placed in the office of Pope Pius XII, in a little chest bearing the note, "Secret of the Holy Office".(3) It is Mother Pascalina who confided this to the journalist, Robert Serrou who in turn recently confirmed this fact.
Did Pope Pius XII read the Secret?
As surprising as it may seem the answer is almost certainly No. Like Father Alonso, I give several solid arguments for this conclusion; notably the testimonies of Cardinal Ottaviani and Monsignor Capovilla, Secretary of Pope John XXIII, who stated to us that the envelope was still sealed when the Holy Father opened it in 1959, one year after the death of Pope Pius XII.
One understands, therefore, the solemn words which Sister Lucy addressed on the 26th of December, 1957, to Father Fuentes, then Postulator of the beatification causes of Jacinta and Francisco.She said: "The Blessed Virgin is very sad, for no one attaches any importance to Her Message ... Neither the good nor the bad ...
The good continue on their way but without paying attention to the Message ... I cannot give any other details, since it is still a secret ... Only the Holy Father and His Excellency the Bishop of Fatima would be able to know it in accordance to the Will of the Blessed Virgin ... But they haven't willed to know it as they did not want to be influenced."
Pope Pius XII, therefore, without a doubt, preferred to wait for 1960, but he died before then. What a loss for the Church!(4)
The Unanimous and Fervent Anticipation
At the approach of 1960, older ones remember it, the whole Christian people confidently awaited the promised public unveiling of the Secret. And you Italians (here present) you no doubt know that in 1959 there was in the whole country a great movement of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. For several months, the Virgin of Fatima crisscrossed the peninsula drawing along in Her trail enthusiastic crowds and spreading everywhere Her marvels of grace, extraordinary fervour, miracles of conversion, miracles of doves(5) ... On the 13th of September, 1959, all the Bishops of the country solemnly consecrated Italy to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Unfortunately, the movement was so little encouraged by Pope John XXIII that his silence and reserve could not pass unnoticed.
Pope John XXIII Reads the Secret of Fatima and Refuses to Disclose It
We know that the Pope had the envelope of the Third Secret brought to him at Castelgandolfo on August 17, 1959, by Monsignor Philippe, who was then an official of the Holy Office. Let us notice that this transmission of the Secret to the Sovereign Pontiff thus took on an official character and gathered around it a certain solemnity, which shows the esteem which Fatima was held in that era. Pope John XXIII did not immediately open the envelope. He was content to declare "I am waiting to read it with my confessor." "The reading of the Secret," Monsignor Capovilla stated precisely, "was done a few days later." "But because of the difficulty raised by expressions peculiar to the language, assistance was requested of the Portuguese translator of the Secretariat of the State, Mgr. Paulo Jose Tavarez," who became afterwards, the Bishop of Macao. Later, Pope John XXIII had it read to Cardinal Ottaviani, Prefect of the Holy Office.
Let us open here a brief parenthesis. Certainly we know well that it belongs to the Hierarchy to judge "private revelations". In 1960, it was evident that the Church had already officially recognized the Divine authenticity of the Fatima apparitions, proved, moreover, more solidly than any other by incontestable prophecies and dazzling miracles as Father Gruner has just reminded us. In accordance with the command of the Most Blessed Virgin transmitted through Sister Lucy, the two prelates in charge, the Bishop of Leiria and the Patriarch of Lisbon had publicly undertaken to reveal the complete content of it by 1960 at the latest. For more than 15 years, no authoritative declaration had come out to refute these repeated promises echoed throughout the entire world by Cardinals, Bishops and Fatima experts as renowned as Canon Galamba, Canon Barthas or Father Messias Dias Coelho. The disclosure of the first two Secrets in 1942 with the consent of Pope Pius XII constituted moreover a precedent. So that the faithful perfectly had the right to expect from the supreme authority this promised revelation. They had at least a right to an exact and straightforward explanation on the part of the Holy Father.
Alas, on February 8, 1960, it was all of a sudden learned through a simple press release that the Third Secret of Fatima would not be revealed. It was an anonymous decision, which is by its very nature, totally irresponsible. What were the reasons that had motivated it? The Vatican communiqué had offered only inconsistent, and even contradictory excuses. This anonymous press release even ended in treachery: "Although the Church recognizes the Fatima apparitions She does not desire to take the responsibility of guaranteeing the veracity of the words that the three shepherd children said that the Virgin Mary had addressed to them."(6) Thus, apparently, the Vatican not only assumed as its own the untenable position of Father Dhanis (the detailed exposé and analysis of this incoherent thesis is in the first volume),(7) but this communiqué went even further. It publicly and without any valid reason cast the most ignominious suspicion upon the credibility of Sister Lucy and upon the whole of the Fatima Message!
According to Mgr. Capovilla, several Roman Prelates had been consulted. But what is certain is that the Portuguese authorities in charge were odiously disregarded. Neither Bishop Venancio nor Cardinal Cerejeira had been consulted or notified by Rome.
Upon re-reading and analysing this lamentable press release of February 8, 1960, or even more by studying the miserable article published in June by Father Caprile in "Civilta Cattolica", one is disheartened by the massive examples of incoherence, inaccuracies and falsehoods which have been uttered by responsible authorities in Rome itself on the subject of Fatima. This tells you how much the decision to take no notice of the expressed will of the Immaculate Virgin, Queen of the Apostles, demanding that Her Secret be revealed by 1960, was unjustified and unjustifiable. It is certain also, that it did immense harm to the Fatima cause.
One can say that it was from this date after this public disregard for the "Secret of Mary" that devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin began to decrease in a perceptible and then alarming manner in the very bosom of the Catholic Church. More than ever, the words of Sister Lucy applied: "The Blessed Virgin is very sad, for no one pays attention to Her Message." And this fault, one must dare to say it, was going to have incalculable consequences. For in the disregarding of the prophecies and requests of Fatima, it was the Virgin Mary, it was God Himself who had been disregarded, who had been ridiculed in front of the world. The conditional punishment announced through the maternal warning of the Immaculate One was then going to be carried out tragically, inevitably.

Part Three

THE THIRD SECRET UNVEILED?

Cardinal Ottaviani related that Pope John XXIII placed the Secret "in one of those archives which are like a very deep, dark well, to the bottom of which papers fall and no one is able to see them anymore." We know very well what became of the manuscript of Sister Lucy. One can even discover the essential content of it. What does Our Lady tell us in this warning in which She has given for our age on July 13, 1917? First of all we can establish four certain and objective facts concerning this Secret and which are going to enable us to advance with long strides in the uncovering of the Mystery.
1. A first capital fact: We know the context of the Third Secret. Properly speaking, there is in effect only one Secret, revealed completely on July 13, 1917. Now of this composite entity at this moment, we know three parts of four. We know the beginning, the first two parts of the Secret and the end, which is surely formed by the conclusion: "In the end," Our Lady promises us, "My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me and she will be converted and a period of peace will be granted to the world." It is in this already known context, following the "etc." in the text that Sister Lucy herself wrote concerning the second part of the Secret, that the Third Secret happens to be inserted. Such is the first fact which is for us an important guide post in order to allow us to proceed in the discovery of the content of the last Secret. The latter must correspond with its immediate context and agree harmoniously with the whole of the Message of Fatima, whose coherence is moreover completely remarkable.
2. A second important fact: If the circumstances in which it was revealed, prove to us its fundamental unity, the dramatic circumstances of its writing down unveil to us on their own, its tragic seriousness.
3. A third very illuminating fact: It is on account of its content and on these grounds alone that since 1960, successive Popes have refused to disclose it.
First of all, Pope John XXIII did this, as we have seen, despite the enthusiastic and anxious expectation of the whole Catholic world.
Paul VI adopted straight away the same attitude. Elected on June 21, 1963, some time afterwards he asked for the text of the Secret. This proves his lively concern for this subject. Since no one knew what Pope John XXIII had done with it, they questioned his secretary, Mgr. Capovilla, who indicated the place where the manuscript had been put. Pope Paul VI surely read it at that point but he did not speak about it. You know, however, on February 11, 1967, as the 50th anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions approached, Cardinal Ottaviani in the name of the Pope, made a long declaration on the subject of the Third Secret of Fatima, in order to explain that it would still not be revealed. In my book, I cite and analyze this text, following the Portuguese experts, I am forced to testify that in order to justify at any price the nondisclosure of the Secret, the Prefect of the Holy Office, supreme guarantor of truth in the Church, is compelled to accumulate a mass of incoherencies and patent untruths.(8) And alas, we shall see the reasons advanced in 1984 by his successor, Cardinal Ratzinger, are not any more consistent.
Pope John Paul I was very devoted to Our Lady of Fatima; he went in pilgrimage to Cova da Iria in 1977, and what is a very curious fact, Sister Lucy herself asked to meet with him. Cardinal Luciani went therefore to the Carmel of Coimbra and he conversed at length with the seer. I am in a position to verify that Sister Lucy spoke with him about the Third Secret and revealed to him the essential content of it. He was very impressed by it. He informed his entourage at the time of his return to Italy, how moved he had been and how serious was the Message. He then spoke and wrote about Fatima in vigorous terms and he expressed his admiration and his total confidence in Sister Lucy whom he obviously considered to be a saint. (I shall give in my fourth volume all the proofs of these unpublished facts.) Having become Pope, he wished no doubt to prepare public opinion before doing something. Unfortunately, he was tragically taken away from us before having been able to say anything.
Pope John Paul II, before going on pilgrimage to Fatima on May 13, 1982 asked for the help of a Portuguese translator from the Curia, in order to translate to him certain expressions of the Secret which are peculiar to the Portuguese language. He also, therefore, has read the Third Secret but has not chosen to make it public either.
Finally, we know that Cardinal Ratzinger has read it as well since he told the Italian journalist Vittorio Messori that he had read it. Cardinal Ratzinger has even written about it on two occasions, in November, 1984, and in June, 1985, alluding to its content in very different terms, which for us is significant. In my book, I published and commented on the synopsis of these two successive published versions.(9)
4. The fourth principal fact: the prophecy of the Third Secret has been unfolding at the present time, before our eyes, since 1960. There is, in fact, a timetable, a chronicle in the realization of the prophecies of Fatima.
On the one hand, it is indeed certain that we have not yet come to the time announced by the conclusion of the secret. Why? Because Russia has not yet been consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as it must be, and as it will be one day. Sister Lucy made this known clearly even after the Act of March 25, 1984.(10) Russia is not yet converted and the world is not in peace, far from it! Therefore, we are not at the end of the prophecy.
On the other hand, the events announced in the Third Secret do not only concern our future, for we have another guide mark: 1960. The Virgin had asked that the Secret be made public in 1960 because Lucy told Cardinal Ottaviani, "In 1960, the Message will appear more clear." Now, the only reason that might render a prophecy clearer from a specific date onward, without any doubt, is the beginning of its fulfillment. And we have other statements from Lucy saying that "the punishments predicted by Our Lady in the Third Secret have already begun."
The terminus a quo (beginning point) and the terminus ad quem (the end point) of the prophecy having been thus determined, we can be sure that we are presently in the period of which She speaks. So we are living the Third Secret. We are witnessing the events that it announces.

False Secrets and False Hypothesis

Basing oneself on this reliable data, one can discard a whole series of false secrets that have been successively published for 25 years. I cite them all in my work and I demonstrate, for example, that the most famous of them, the "Secret" circulated in 1963 by the German magazine "Neues Europa", and which has been ceaselessly reprinted in innumerable magazines, is a fake. There are in this text, several monstrous errors which prove this sufficiently. Moreover, although it is a matter we are told, of simple "extracts" of the real Secret, these "extracts" are already at least four times too long to fit on the sheet of paper on which Lucy wrote down the whole of the Third Secret.(11)
One can dismiss also, a good number of false hypotheses. Certainly, one is not dealing with a simple "invitation to prayer and penance", as Father Caprile dares to claim!(12) The Virgin Mary would not have asked Lucy to wait for 1944 or 1960 in order to divulge a message that would repeat word for word Her public Message of October 13, 1917!
[Translator's Note: Nor would it explain the extreme difficulty Sister Lucy had from Oct/43 to Jan/44, in writing down the 25 lines of the Secret. If it were only a call to prayer and penance there would be no such difficulty.]
Neither is it a matter of happiness: The Third Secret of Fatima certainly does not accord with the views of optimism of Pope John XXIII, proclaiming that the Council would be "a new Pentecost", "a new springtime for the Church!" If that were the case, he himself or his successors would have revealed it to us. "If it were pleasant," Cardinal Cerejeira said very justifiably, "We would have been told so. Since we haven't been told anything, the fact is that it is sad," Yes, it is obviously grave and tragic.
Neither is it the announcement of the end of the world since the prophecy of Fatima ends with a marvellous and unconditional promise, which ought to be preached in season and out of season, because it is a source of unshakeable hope: "In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph, the Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, it will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world."
Would it be the announcement of a Third World War? Of a Nuclear War? It would be sensible to think so, for here the prophecy would do nothing but confirm the most lucid political analyses. Would not the Virgin Mary have predicted this most horrible future war, which so tragically threatens us?
Together with Father Alonso, I think that this is undoubtedly not the essential of the Third Secret. And I say this for a solid reason: Namely, this foretelling of material chastisements, of new wars and of persecutions against the Church, constitutes the specific content of the Second Secret. Have we yet reflected on the terrible importance of these simple words: "The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated"? "The Blessed Virgin has told us," Sister Lucy confided to Father Fuentes, "that many nations will disappear from the face of the earth, that Russia will be the instrument of chastisement chosen by heaven to punish the whole world (for its crimes) if we do not beforehand obtain the conversion of that poor nation."(13) That is why it is to be feared that the word "annihilated" is to be taken literally in its obvious sense: annihilated, totally destroyed. Improbable in 1917, this tragic threat is not any longer farfetched for us today in the Nuclear Age.
It is therefore clear: all the material punishments which still threaten us, even the most dreadful, like nuclear war, or the expansion of Communism over the whole planet, are already foretold by Our Lady in Her Second Secret, and we also know the supernatural means to avert them before it is too late.(14) We can be certain, according to Father Alonso, that nothing about these material chastisements is repeated in the third part of the Secret. nOr at least, I would add, if allusion to it is again made (as is quite possible), this will not be the essential message of the Third Secret. In effect, since the Secret is composed of three interrelated but distinct parts and whose date, for disclosure, fixed by heaven were not the same, one can be sure that the third part of the Secret is not going to repeat the same thing as the second in a few lines of space.

Part Four

Doubtlessly, the Third Secret mainly refers to a spiritual chastisement. Far worse, even more fearsome than famine, wars, persecutions, for it concerns souls, their salvation or their eternal perdition. The late Father Alonso, named in 1966 as official archivist of Fatima by Bishop Venancio, has proved that this is what the Third Secret contains. He wrote about it in one of the volumes of his great critical work, consisting of 14 volumes, which unfortunately, he was forbidden to publish. But he was able, all the same, before his death on December 12, 1981, to make known to us his conclusions in various pamphlets and numerous articles in theological journals.
My personal research has only permitted me to clarify, to complete, to be more specific about his thesis which new documents have come to confirm.
Here is the most important: On September 10, 1984, Bishop Cosme do Amaral, the present Bishop of Leiria, Fatima, in the Aula Magna (large auditorium) of the Technical University of Vienna, declared in the course of a period of questions and answers: "The Third Secret of Fatima speaks neither of atomic bombs nor of nuclear warheads, nor of SS20 missiles. Its content, he has insisted, concerns only our faith. To identify the Secret with catastrophic announcements or with a nuclear holocaust is to distort the meaning of the Message. The loss of faith of a continent is worse than the annihilation of a nation; and it is true that faith is continually diminishing in Europe."(15)
For ten years, the Bishop of Fatima kept an absolute silence about the content of the Third Secret. When he opens his mouth in order to make so resolute a public statement, one can be morally certain that he has not said this without having beforehand consulted Sister Lucy. We can be all the more certain of this since in 1981, he had already refuted some false secrets while saying that he had questioned the seer on the subject.
This is to say that the thesis of Fr. Alonso is now publicly confirmed by the Bishop of Fatima: It is the terrible crisis within the Church. It is the loss of faith that the Immaculate Virgin has foretold, precisely for our era, if Her requests were not sufficiently carried out, and it is this drama which we have been witnessing since 1960. The essential having been said, I shall now content myself to mention the principle stages of my proof regarding the true content of the Third Secret.

The Loss of Faith

In the first chapter(16), I set forth the reasons which prove that the Third Secret deals specifically with the loss of faith. It is the principle element of the Secret that we already know. In effect, we know more than only the context of it. Sister Lucy was desirous to indicate to us the first sentence of it, "In Portugal, the dogma of faith will always be preserved, etc." This little sentence which the seer surely and intentionally added when she wrote down the first two parts and the conclusion of the Secret for the second time in her Memoirs, is definitely significant. It provides us very discreetly, with the key to the Third Secret.
Here is the judicious commentary of Father Alonso: "'In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved". This sentence in all clarity implies the critical state of the faith which will befall other nations. That is to say that there will be a crisis of faith, while Portugal will save its faith". "Therefore", Father Alonso writes further, "in the period which precedes the great Triumph of the Heart of Mary, the terrible things which are the object of the third part of the Secret, will occur. Which ones? If, 'In Portugal, the dogmas of faith will always be preserved,' one can deduce from it with perfect clarity that in other parts of the Church these dogmas either are going to become obscure or else even be lost."
Most of the experts have adopted this interpretation: Father Martin dos Reis, Canon Galamba, Bishop Venancio, Father Luis Kondor, Father Messias Dias Coelho. Last November 18th, in the course of a conference that he gave in Paris, Father Laurentin declared himself also in favor of this solution.(17)
Let us add that Cardinal Ratzinger has himself spoken in this sense to Vittorio Messori, while saying that the Third Secret concerned "the dangers threatening the faith and life of Christians". Finally, as we have said, the present Bishop of Fatima is still more explicit. He lets it be understood that it is a crisis of faith, on the scale of several nations and entire continents ... such a defection has a name in Holy Scripture: It is apostacy. It is possible that this word is found in the text of the Secret.

The Faltering and Punishment of Pastors

In another chapter(18), I show that there is more: The Third Secret insists surely on the heavy responsibility of consecrated souls, of priests, and even bishops themselves in this unprecedented crisis of faith which has hit the Church for 25 years. I provide several proofs of it, several very clear indications. I must be content here to cite to you Father Alonso: "It is therefore completely probable that the text of the Third Secret makes concrete allusions to the crisis of faith within the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves."
He speaks further of "internal struggles in the very bosom of the Church and of grave pastoral negligence by the high hierarchy", of "deficiencies of the upper hierarchy of the Church."
These very serious words, Father Alonso has surely not written and published them so clearly and openly without having carefully considered the whole impact. As official archivist of Fatima, would he have adopted after 10 years of labours and various interviews, various conversations with Sister Lucy, a position so bold on a subject so red hot without being assured at least of the tacit agreement of the seer? The answer does not permit any doubt at all.
This declaration of the deficiencies of the Hierarchy explains the haunting concern of the three seers forcing themselves to pray, to pray much and to sacrifice without ceasing for the Holy Father; the three months of insurmountable anguish that Sister Lucy had to face before daring to write down this text. It explains finally why the Popes since the optimist John XXIII, have hesitated, delayed and ceaselessly put off until later its publication, seeking at all costs to keep it hidden.

A Wave of Diabolical Disorientation

In the third chapter(19), I show that Sister Lucy, without doubt, echoed a theme of the Third Secret in certain of her words and letters where she lays stress on the unleashing of the devil in our era. Already in 1957, she was confiding to Father Fuentes, "The Most Holy Virgin has told me that the devil is about to engage in a decisive battle against the Virgin ... and that he knows what most offends God, and what will make him gain the most souls in the shortest possible time. He does everything to gain souls consecrated to God, for in this manner, he will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them."
But it is especially in a series of very little known but very important letters in the years 1969-1970, that she uses some striking expressions to describe the present crisis of the Church. And, let us note it well, through the pen of a soul who is so humble, and so respectful of authority, that such strong expressions are without doubt the echo of the words heard from the very lips of the Immaculate Virgin in Her Final Message concerning the protection of the faith and the welfare of the Church.
"I see by your letter," she writes to a priest, "that you are preoccupied by the disorientation of our time. It is sad, in fact, that so many persons let themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave that is sweeping the world and that they are blinded to the point of being incapable of seeing error! The principle fault is that they have abandoned prayer, they have in this way become estranged from God, and without God, everything is lacking."
The devil is very cunning and looks for our weak points in order to attack us."
If we are not diligent and careful to obtain from God strength, we shall fall, for our age is very wicked and we are weak. Only the strength of God can keep us on our feet."
In a letter to a friend who is zealously involved in the defence of Marian Devotion, Sister Lucy writes:
"Let people say the Rosary every day, Our Lady has repeated that in all of Her apparitions, as if to fortify us in these times of diabolical disorientation, in order that we not let ourselves be deceived by false doctrines ... Unfortunately, in religious matters the people for the most part are ignorant and allow themselves to be led wherever they are taken. Hence, the great responsibility of the one who has the duty of leading them ...
"It is a diabolical disorientation that is invading the world, deceiving souls! It is necessary to stand up to 'the devil'."
On September 16, 1970, she writes to a religious friend: "Our poor Lord, He has saved us with so much love and He is so little understood! So little loved! So badly served! It is painful to see such great confusion, and in so many persons who occupy places of responsibility! ... For us, we must try, as much as it is possible for us, to make reparation through a still more intimate union with the Lord ... It pains me to see what you are saying, but now, that is happening around here also! ... The fact is that the devil has succeeded in bringing in evil under the appearance of good, and the blind are beginning to lead others ... This is like the Lord told us in His Gospel, and souls allow themselves to be taken in. Gladly I sacrifice myself and offer God my life for peace in His Church, for priests and for all consecrated souls, especially for those who are so deceived and misguided!"

We must take a stand against the devil's partisans in the Church

For the confidant of the Virgin Mary, evil is not only in our world "in decadence", "plunged into the darkness of error of immorality and pride". Evil is also in the Church itself, where the devil has his "followers" and his "partisans" who are always "forging ahead with intrepid audacity". Facing them, there are so many "timid persons" who do not have the courage to take a stand. And Sister Lucy is not afraid to state that many bishops are among their number. Moreover, it is not only a question of luke-warmness or of pastoral neglect, Sister Lucy lets it be clearly understood that it is the faith itself that is being attacked. She speaks of "false doctrines" and of "diabolical confusion", of "blindness" and this, among the very ones "who have great responsibility" in the Church. She deplores the fact that, so many pastors "let themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave that is invading the world". Could one better describe the crisis of the Church that has opened itself to a world ... of which Satan is the prince?
But Sister Lucy insists, "The Virgin knew that these times of diabolical disorientation had to come." All these words of the seer and so many others that we can cite, are explained perfectly, and take on great prominence, if on July 13, 1917, in Her Third Secret, the Virgin specifically foretold this "diabolical disorientation" which would suddenly invade the Church, if Her requests were not obeyed.

The Great Apostasy of the "Last Times" Announced by Holy Scripture

To someone who was questioning her on the content of the Third Secret, Sister Lucy one day replied: "It's in the Gospel, and in the Apocalypse, read them." She has also confided to Father Fuentes that the Virgin Mary has made her see clearly that "We are in the last times of the world." This does not mean, one must emphasize, the time of the end of the world and of the last judgement, since the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary must come first. Cardinal Ratzinger himself discreetly alluding to the content of the Secret of Fatima, has mentioned three important elements: "The dangers threatening the faith," "the importance of the last times" and the fact that the prophecies "contained in this Third Secret correspond to what has been announced in Scripture." We even know that one day Lucy indicated Chapters 8 and 13 of the Apocalypse.
That is why, in the last two chapters of my book, I take up the great teachings of Our Lord, of St. Paul and St. John so ignored today! - Announcing the troubles, the heresy and finally the great apostasy which will arise in the Church during the "last times". And the objective comparison of the prophecies of Scripture - very particularly those of the Apocalypse - and the great prophecy of the Virgin of Fatima, at the dawn of our Century shows indeed very numerous and quite striking parallels.

Part Five

III. IT IS URGENT TO FINALLY LISTEN TO OUR LADY OF FATIMA

We have said enough about it in order to understand that nothing is so important, so necessary, so urgent, than to make known without delay, to all the faithful of the Church, the complete and integral text of Mary's Secret, in its limpid truthfulness and in its prophetic richness and its Divine transcendence. It would be proper here to cite the numerous and solid reasons which underline the urgency of this disclosure. I shall be content at the end of this presentation to mention the principle points.

Why Reveal the Third Secret

1. "Because the Blessed Virgin wants it." We know indeed that Her will has not changed in the least since the moment of Grace of July 13, 1917 when She revealed it to the three shepherds nor has it changed since that January 2, 1944, when appearing to Sister Lucy in her convent at Tuy, She asked her to write down the text of it. Our Lady wills that this prophetic oracle be unveiled, that it be known. And Sister Lucy, Her messenger, has continued to want this public disclosure and as much as she has been permitted, she has urgently requested it from those in authority, this we know.
2. For the good of souls. For contrary to the falsehood so often repeated, the Secret is not intended exclusively for the Holy Father. Like the two preceding ones, it is destined for all the faithful. As sons of the Church, we are all children of Mary. We all have the right to know the salutary warning that Our Heavenly Mother addresses to us in this very perilous hour, in order to help us - we ourselves, our children, all those dear to us - to keep intact and alive in our hearts, the true Catholic faith received from our forefathers.
3. As long as this Secret is not revealed, the peace of the world will remain tragically threatened! I will explain myself. We believe strongly, that as long as Russia is not consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as God requires it to be, Russia will not be converted. And as long as she will not be converted, liberated from its atheistic and persecuting Bolshevism and from the grip of satanic forces which enslave it, the risk of a nuclear apocalypse will remain a terrible threat for the world.
God has willed that the peace of the world depends, in our century, on the ardent filial obedience of the Pope and of the bishops to the commands of His Most Holy Mother who appeared at Fatima. Now, this act of faith, of confident docility towards the Immaculate Mediatrix, through which our pastors shall carry out the consecration of Russia, presupposes also, and I shall even say first of all, the acceptance and the public disclosure of the Secret. It is a lesson of history: Since 1960, the deliberate, contemptuous concealment of the Secret of Our Lady has gone hand in hand with the stubborn refusal to precisely carry out with exactitude, Her other requests. On the other hand, the publication of the Third Secret will be the clear sign that the Church has officially recognized the Divine authenticity and importance of the Fatima Message in its entirety. One of the major obstacles to the consecration of Russia shall in that case be set aside!
4. Finally and especially, for the good of the Church. While the Church, without a doubt, is going through the most serious crisis in her history, while heresies of all sorts are taught and propagated, poisoning everywhere the people of God, while her "self-destruction" continues without let up since 1960, and when the "smoke of Satan"(20) has penetrated into the holy place, to use some expressions of Paul VI, it would be a very great pity and certainly even criminal to continue to neglect, to disregard, to despise the salutary words of the Virgin Mary - concerning precisely this `crisis of faith' that we are undergoing. Since the Queen of Heaven as early as 1917 had foretold the danger and since She had certainly indicated the real causes of it, and moreover, since She had proposed the effective remedies, is it not a terrible shame that these remedies intended to be publicly made known in 1960 have yet to be revealed to us? Is it not scandalous that for 25 years, millions of souls have been suffering in this "diabolical disorientation" and have been running the risk of being lost eternally without the pastors of the Church deigning to accept the extraordinary aid that Heaven is offering them?

We Must Repeatedly Beg the Pope

There now are so many reasons which make it a duty for us to continue to address to the Holy Father our repeated supplications for the disclosure of the Secret of Fatima: It is for the honour of Our Mother, for the salvation of our brothers, for the peace of the world, for the renewal of the Church. Let us not be told, as a recent false report tries to make us believe, that the Fatima Secret cannot be unveiled because "It would risk being misinterpreted!" Is it possible that the Queen of Prophets who foresaw and announced in 1917 so many then unforeseeable events that we have since witnessed, would have failed to foresee this risk, to the point of making Her Secret completely useless for the Church? This is unthinkable! No, Her Secret is clear, with neither the least ambiguity nor difficulty in interpretation, we can be certain of it. Let us dare even to say it! Would it not be rather because of its too great clarity which is making our pastors uneasy? Let us therefore pray untiringly so that the Holy Father can receive from God the light and the strength which will permit him to finally conquer all obstacles. It is already late, but Jesus tells all through Sister Lucy, "It will never be too late to have recourse to Jesus and to Mary."
Finally, and with this I shall conclude, if the Holy Father cannot yet decide to make public the final Secret of Our Lady by exercising his personal authority, could he not, should he not at least allow complete freedom to the Prefect of the Holy Office or to the Bishop of Leiria, or to the seer herself, to obey the expressed command of Our Lady that the Secret be made known to the faithful?

The Third Secret "On The Index"?

For it is an astounding fact, that for more than 25 years, the Secret of Fatima and it alone is in some manner on the Index.(21) Sister Lucy, and she alone is compelled to silence. On November 15, 1966, Pope Paul VI abrogated articles 1399 and 2318 of the code of Canon Law, which prohibited the publication of books and pamphlets which propagate without authorization new apparitions, revelations, or prophecies still not approved by the Church. And this abrogation is now in the new code.(22) So that since 1966 anyone can publish and spread among the Christian people the most fantastic revelations. Any deception, and devilry, nothing is prohibited anymore. Everything is authorized to be published and the `prince of lies' skilfully takes advantage of this license by multiplying throughout the world, false apparitions and fraudulent messages, which spread freely everywhere and lead astray countless members of the faithful. Only that Message, the Secret of Fatima which is most certainly and most unquestionably from God, is the only Message which is scandalously prohibited from being published.
The conclusion imposes itself: It is high time to also let the seer of Fatima speak. And through her the Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God and our Mother, our all loveable and all loving Mediatrix and Coredemptrix. It is urgent to listen to Her since, "She alone will be able to help us" as She Herself informed us on July 13, 1917.(23)

Our Last Hope - Our Lady of Fatima

Her three Secrets reveal to us in fact Her threefold power and Her threefold mission which God has entrusted to Her. God wishes to manifest in a most striking way in our century, this mission of Our Lady. It is through Her, through the vision of hell and the revelation of Her Immaculate Heart, the first terrible and marvellous Secret that He wishes to convert souls, all souls, and to save them, because She is the 'Mother of Mercy' and the 'Gate of Heaven'. It is through Her - the commands, the promises, the threats in Her Second Secret, that He has been seeking to save Christianity, to spare us from horrible wars and Communist slavery! For He has established Her as 'Queen of Peace'. Moreover, it is through Her, through the prophecy of Her Third Secret that He wishes to conquer today that "diabolical wave" surging upon the Church, the impiety that has taken hold, even in the Sanctuary and all the dark forces that have propagated and encouraged the modern apostasy, for She is the 'Defender of the True Faith' and She alone has received from Her Son the power to conquer all of the heresies in the whole world: 'Cuntas haereses tu sola interemisti in universo mundo!'

Our Great Hope!

And this threefold mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix which Her great Secret reveals to us, is also the unshakeable basis for our in confoundable hope. Yes we can be sure of it when Her Secret will finally be completely unveiled and recognized as authentic, when Russia will finally be solemnly consecrated to Her, and the reparational devotion of the First Saturdays of the month is officially approved, the faithful and powerful Virgin, Virgo Fidelis', Virgo Potens' will accomplish Her wonderful promises.
Filled with joy, we shall then witness the triumph of Her Immaculate Heart, preparing the universal reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Russia, delivered from her demons through a remarkable miracle of conversion, will return to the sheepfold of Roman unity. A period of peace will be granted to the world. The Catholic faith will be preached to all nations. And countless numbers of souls shall go in joy to the Fountains of Salvation in the One Holy Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church of Christ under the guidance of a single Shepherd!
Yes, this hour will come, but we ourselves must hasten it by carrying out with love all the requests of Our Lady from this moment onward.
For She has need of us. "Modern times", St. Maximilian Kolbe used to say, 'Are dominated by Satan and they shall be so even more in the future ... The Immaculate One alone has received from God the promise of victory over Satan, but being in the glory of Heaven, She needs us today, to work together with Her. She seeks souls consecrated entirely to Her and become in Her hands a force to conquer Satan, and to become under Her direction effective means for establishing the Kingdom of God."

ENDNOTES

1. See Appendix

2. See Brother Michael's book "The Third Secret", pages 33-56 & 467-478

3. This is at least what Mother Pascalina Lehnert affirmed to the journalist Robert Serrou on the occassion of a photographic reporting session at the Vatican on May 14, 1957 ("The Third Secret", pages 484-486) [Mother Pascalina was in charge of a few sisters who looked after Pope Pius XII]

4. "The Third Secret", pages 486-502

5. During processions of the Pilgrim Statue, doves would be released. Sometimes they would huddle at the feet of the statue rather than fly away ("The Third Secret", pages 99-103, 251, 533,534

6. "The Third Secret", pages 578-586

7. This incoherent thesis is in "Science and the Facts", pages 381-434 and 482-528 [Father Dhanis was a theology professor at Louvain when he first published his thesis in 1944. Basically, he claimed that Sister Lucy's Memoirs (written 1935-1941) were not reliable] This is totally refuted by Brother Michael in Volume I as noted above.

8. "The Third Secret", pages 721-734

9. For the conclusions that one could draw from the Cardinal's "variations", "The Third Secret", pages 818- 840

10. On this date Pope John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with an indirect mention of Russia (not by name), after having asked all the world's bishops to join in this act from their respective dioceses. In fact all bishops did not join the Pope and the act of consecration used was not what Our Lady of Fatima requested.

11. "The Third Secret", pages 642 - 663 english edition

12. In The June, 1960 edition of "la Civiltà Cattolica"

13. This declaration to Father Fuentes, as Father Alonso and I also show is certainly authentic. I demonstrate this in my book "The Third Secret" pages 503-510, 549-554. Sister Lucy's declaration to Father Fuentes in December of 1957, of which I show, following Father Alonso, the incontestable authenticity ("The Third Secret", pages 503-510, 549 - 554), is a striking synthesis of the message of Fatima. Published in 1962 in the Letters to My Friends, and again in 1974 in "The Catholic Counter-Reformation in the Twentieth Century" (no. 87, page 12, French edition), this text, always very timely, deserves to continue to spread. (See "The Third Secret", pages 504 - 508, for text)

14. The main supernatural means by which world peace will be brought about are the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Pope and all the bishops of the world, and the Communions of Reparation on the First Saturdays (see Appendix), as requested by Our Lady on December 10, 1925 and June 13, 1929

15. The bishop could make such a strong statement because it is a dogma of the Catholic Church that: in order to be saved from the eternal fires of Hell each Catholic must not lose his Faith. Obviously, physical annihilation is not as bad an evil as the loss of souls in Hell for all eternity. That is why this chastisement proclaimed in the Third Secret is worse than war and death.

16. "The Third Secret", pages 683 - 693

17. To our knowledge, only Rev. Father Antonio Maria Martins and Father Geraldes Freire continue to maintain another hypothesis, according to which the Third Secret would concern the expansion of Communism to Portugal, her overseas colonies and the entire world ("The Third Secret", pages 735 - 744)

18. "The Third Secret", pages 694 -720

19. "The Third Secret", pages. 745 - 762

20.Pope Paul VI lamented the "self-destruction" of the Church in a speech he made on December 7, 1968. In a homily on June 29,1972 he referred to the "smoke of Satan" having entered the Church. See "The Third Secret", page 849, Notes 1 and 2

21. This refers to The Church's "Index of Forbidden Books", which has since been abolished.

22. The new Code of Canon Law was promulgated on January 25, 1983

23. The three parts of the one Fatima Secret were given on this date. We could call them (in a manner of speaking) three secrets.

By the Grace of Almighty God and the intercession of Our Blessed Lady and the Saints, man has been given powerful weapons with which to achieve salvation and protect himself against the "snares and wickedness of the devil." Among these, pride of place must of course be given to the Seven Sacraments, instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ and administered by His Holy Catholic Church. In addition and complimentary to the Sacraments, Heaven has also provided mankind with many salutary prayers, practices and sacramental by which virtue may be augmented and dangers to faith and morals averted.
At Fatima, the Mother of God emphasized the vital importance of the daily recitation of the Rosary and signalled Her desire that all Catholics wear the Brown Scapular as a visible sign of their devotion. These two great Fatima devotions are joined indissolubly with those of the Five First Saturdays (which Our Lady instituted at Pontevedra, Spain in 1925) and the Seven Fatima Prayers that are traditionally associated with Her appearances.
The Most Holy Rosary
The Rosary has been treasured in the Church for many centuries. In a profound sense, it is a summary of the Christian Faith in language and prayers inspired by the Bible. Pope Pius X wrote that "among all the devotions approved by the Church, none has been favoured by so many miracles as the devotion to the Most Holy Rosary."
The Rosary traditionally is said to have originated with St. Dominic, a Spanish monk of the 13th century who was the founder of the Order of Preachers (more commonly known as the Dominicans) and a mighty missionary against heresy. One night, as he was deep in prayer, Our Lady appeared to him, holding the Rosary in Her hand and said: "Be of good cheer, Dominic, the remedy for the evils which you lament will be meditation on the life, death and glory of My Son, uniting all with the recitation of the angelic salutation (Hail Mary) by which the mystery of redemption was announced to the world. This devotion, which you are to inculcate by your preaching, is a practice most dear to My Son and Me. The faithful will obtain by it innumerable advantages and shall always find me ready to aid them in their wants. This is the precious gift which I leave to you and to your spiritual children."
Over the centuries, inspired by the teachings of St. Dominic and his followers, especially the Blessed Alain de Roche and St. Louis de Montford, the Holy Rosary has become the most beloved and popular of all Catholic devotions. It has long been associated with innumerable miracles of faith and healing.
Speaking of Our Lady's appearances at Fatima (where She identified Herself as "the Lady of the Rosary"), Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité has written that "if She willed to appear at the Cova da Iris holding (the Rosary) in Her hand...it was to show us that it is the surest means, because it is the easiest and the humblest, of winning Her Heart and obtaining Her graces."

HOW TO PRAY THE ROSARY
THE FIFTEEN PROMISES OF THE ROSARY
SISTER LUCY SPEAKS ON THE ROSARY

The Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel
The Brown Scapular is a sacramental, one of the many items set apart or blessed by the Church to inspire devotion and increase holiness. The Carmelite Order, to which the Scapular belongs, originated on Mt. Carmel in the Holy Land and the Scapular is itself a reflection in miniature of the habit which the monks wear as a sign of their vocation and devotion
. The Scapular consists of two small pieces of brown wool connected by string and worn over the shoulders. The Scapular must be brown, rectangular in shape and made of 100 percent lamb's wool (symbolic of Jesus, the Lamb of God). The strings connecting the pieces of wool may of any colour or material and pictures on the scapulars are optional. The Scapular must, however, be worn over the shoulders, one part in front and one in back.
The Scapular devotion was born on July 16, 1251 when Our Blessed Mother appeared to St. Simon Stock, general of the Carmelite Order, in response to his heartfelt prayers for assistance. Holding the Scapular before him, Our Lady spoke, saying:

"Take this Scapular. Whosoever dies wearing it shall not suffer eternal fire. It shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and pledge of peace."

This great promise was further magnified some eighty years later when the Queen of Heaven appeared to Jean Drèze (later Pope John XXII) and told him that "those who have been invested with this Holy Habit will be delivered from Purgatory the first Saturday after their deaths." This great secondary promise attached to the Scapular is called the Sabbatine (Saturday) Privilege and is based on a decree issued by John XXII in 1322 (and re-confirmed 400 years later by Pope Paul V). In our own century, Pope Benedict XV, as a sign of his approval, granted a 500 day indulgence each time the Scapular is kissed.
At its essence, the Scapular is a prayer in which Our Lady draws us nearer to the Sacred Heart of Her Divine Son. For over seven hundred years, the promise of the Scapular has been proven theologically sound and confirmed by miracles which the Blessed Claude de la Colombiere has called "more numerous and authentic" than any other sacramental devotion.

The Five First Saturdays
On the evening of Thursday, December 10, 1925, after supper, Sister Lucy dos Santos (then a postulant in the Dorothean house at Pontevedra, Spain) received a visit by the Child Jesus and the Virgin Mary in her convent cell. Showing the young nun a heart surrounded by thorns, Our Lady said to her:
"See, My daughter, My heart surrounded by thorns which ungrateful men pierce at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude... Say to all those who, for five months, on the first Saturday, confess, receive Holy Communion, recite the Rosary and keep Me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, in a spirit of reparation, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls."
Charged with this mission by Heaven's King and Queen, the 18-year-old nun immediately began the work of making their requests for this new devotion known. She informed her Mother Superior at once as well as her priest-confessor, Father Lino Garcia. It was he, in fact, who ordered Lucy to immediately write down everything which concerned the revelation. Later, she would write at even greater depth to Bishop Pereira Lopes and many others, striving to establish in the hearts of those around her the urgency of promoting this wonderful new gift of grace.
Writing to her own mother two years following Our Lord and Our Lady's visit, Sister Lucy begged her to adopt this new devotion which "I know is so pleasing to God and which our dear Heavenly Mother has requested." In another letter written after the first steps had been taken to gain official Church approval of the devotion, she emphasized its critical importance in saving souls: "[You] cannot imagine how great is my joy in thinking about the consolation...that the Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary are going to receive and of the great number of souls who are going to be saved through this amiable devotion."
Through the tireless efforts of Sister Lucy and others, this great, yet simple devotion has, over the last seven decades, spread around the world, uniting millions in an universal and continuous act of reparation that seeks to console the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and to save souls everywhere. Sister Lucy herself has written that "the greatest joy," she feels, "is to see the Immaculate Heart of our so tender Mother known, loved and consoled by the means of this devotion."

SISTER LUCY EXPLAINS
THE DEVOTION OF THE FIVE FIRST SATURDAYS

The Seven Fatima Prayers
During the course of the apparitions at Fatima, the three child seers were taught five unique and powerful prayers, two by the Angel of Peace and three by the Mother of God. Later, appearing to Sister Lucy at Rianjo, Spain, Our Lord Jesus Christ dictated two further prayers. For millions of people, these prayers are today a living embodiment of the Message of hope and peace which Our Lady gave the world at Fatima.
In the past few years, through the efforts of Our Lady's Apostolate, a pious practice has developed of reciting one (or more) of these prayers on a daily basis. The following schedule of prayers is a suggestion only; please feel free to recite them in any order which you find most comforting and appropriate.

Monday

My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You! I ask pardon of You for those who not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You!

Tuesday

O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Wednesday

O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.

Thursday

O Most Holy Trinity, I adore You! My God, my God, I love You in the most Blessed Sacrament!

Friday

Sweet Heart of Mary, be the salvation of Russia, Spain, Portugal, Europe and the whole world.

Saturday

By your pure and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, obtain for me the conversion of Russia, Spain, Portugal, Europe and the entire world.

Sunday

Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I offer You the most precious Body, Blood , Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the sacrileges, outrages and indifference by which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of you the conversion of poor sinners."